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BY  THE   SAME  AUTHOR. 


The   Leavenworth   Case.       A   Lawyer's  Story.      i6mo, 

cloth,  $1  oo  ;  paper,  50  cents  ;  4to,  paper        ...         20 

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X.  Y.  Z.     A  Detective  Story.     i6mo,  paper    ...        25 

The   Defence  of   the  Bride,  and   other    Poems.      Square 

8vo.,  flexible  cloth i  00 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS,    PUBLISHERS, 

NEW   YORK   AND    LONDON. 


icu 


a-" 
^  3 


HAND  AND    RING 


BY 


ANNA   KATHARINE   GREEN 

AUTHOR    OF    "the     LEAVENWORTH    CASK,"  "  THE     SWORD    OF    DAMOCLES,"     "THE 
DEFENCE   OF   THE    BRIDE,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


"  For  murder,  though  it  have  no  tongue,  will  speak  with  most  miraculous 
organ." 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 

NEW   YORK  :    27   &   2g   WEST   23D    STREET 
LONDON  :    25    HENRIETTA   STREET,    COVENT   GARDEN 

iSSs 


Copyright  by 
ANNA    KATHARINE    GREEN 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


"  '  Look  out,'  cried  the  detective,  '  or  yoii  will  get  yourself  into 
trouble,'  and  he  tightened  his  grip  on  the  old  creature's 
arm."         ........         Frontispiece 

"  Taking  her  hand  in  his,  he  looked  at  her  long  and  search- 
ingly.  '  Imogene,'  he  exclaimed,  '  there  is  something 
weighing  on  your  heart.' "  .         .         .         ,         .         .58 

"  He  paused,  sick  and  horror-stricken.  Her  face  had  risen 
upon  him  from  the  back  of  the  chair,  and  was  staring  at 
him  like  that  of  a  Medusa."       ......     252 

Diagram  ..........     364 

"  The  curtains  parted  and  disclosed  the  form  of  Imogene.     '  I 

am  coming,'  she  murmured,  and  stepped  forth."       .         .       402 


Note.— A  portion  of  these  illustrations  originally  appeared  \n  Frank  Leslie' s  Illustrattd 
Ne-wsjfiaper,  and  have  been  used  in  this  volume  through  the  courtesy  of  Mrs.  Leslie. 


2034497 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 


THE   GENTLEMAN     FROM    TOLEDO 


CHAPTER 

I.  A  Startling  Coincidence 
II.  An  Appeal  to  Heaven    . 
III.  The  Unfinished  Letter 
IV.   Imogene 
V.   Horace  Byrd 
VI.  The  Skill  of  an  Artist 
VII.   Miss  Firman 
VIII.  The  Thick-set  Man 
IX.  Close  Calculations 
X.  The  Final  Test       . 
XI.  Decision. 


17 

31 

49 

67 

>85 

95 

115 

128 

146 

162 


BOOK  11. 


THE    WEAVING    OF    A    WEB. 


XII.  The  Spider 168 

XIII.  TlieFly i75 

XIV.  A  Last  Attempt 189 

XV.  The  End  of  a  Tortuous  Path 199 

XVI.  Storm 205 

XVII.  A  Surprise 213 

XVIII.  A  Brace  of  Detectives 214 

XIX.  Mr.  Ferris 233 

XX.  A  Crisis 245 

XXI.  A  Heart's  Martyrdom 258 

XXII.  Craik  Mansell 264 

XXIII.  Mr.  Orcutt 278 

XXIV.  A  True  Bill 299 

XXV.  Among  Telescopes  and  Charts         ....  306 

XXVI.   "  He  Shall  Hear  Me  !  " 313 


iv 

CONTENTS. 

BOOK  III. 

CHAPTER 

THE    SCALES   OF     JUSTICE. 

PAGE 

XXVII. 

The  Great  Trial 

.   315 

XXVIII. 

The  Chief  Witness  for  the  Prosecution    . 

.    322 

XXIX. 

The  Opening  of  the  Defence 

.   350 

XXX. 

Byrd  Uses  his  Pencil  Again    . 

.   356 

XXXI. 

The  Chief  Witness  for  the  Defence 

.   369 

XXXII. 

Hickory 

.  383 

XXXIII. 

A  Late  Discovery  ..... 

.   392 

XXXIV. 

What  Was  Hid  Behind  Imogene's  Veil  . 

.     4" 

XXXV. 

Pro  and  Con            ..... 

.     436 

XXXVI. 

A  Mistake  Rectified        .... 

.     465 

XXXVII. 

Under  the  Great  Tree    .         .  ^       . 

.     475 

XXXVIII. 

Unexpected  Words         .... 

.     502 

.XXXIX. 

Mr.  Gryce 

.     516 

XL. 

In  the  Prison          ..... 

.     529 

XLI. 

A  Link  Supplied 

.     555 

XLII. 

Consultations          ..... 

.     568 

XLIII. 

Mrs.  Firman 

.     573 

XLIV. 

The  Widow  Clemmens  . 

.         .     587 

XLV 

Mr.  Gryce  Says  Good-bye 

.     600 

HAND   AND    RING. 


BOOK    I. 

THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO. 

I. 

A    STARTLING   COINCIDENCE. 

By  the  pricking  of  my  thumbs, 
Something  wicked  this  way  comes. 

— Macbeth. 

THE  town  clock  of  Sibley  had  just  struck  twelve. 
Court  had  adjourned,  and  Judge  Evans,  with 
one  or  two  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  county,  stood 
in  the  door-way  of  the  court-house  discussing  in  a 
friendly  way  the  eccentricities  of  criminals  as  developed 
in  the  case  then  before  the  court.  Mr.  Lord  had  just 
ventured  the  assertion  that  crime  as  a  fine  art  was 
happily  confined  to  France  ;  to  which  District  Attorney 
Ferris  had  replied  : 

"And  why?  Because  atheism  has  not  yet  acquired 
such  a  hold  upon  our  upper  classes  that  gentlemen 
think  it  possible  to  meddle  with  such  matters.  It  is 
only  when  a  student,  a  doctor,  a  lawyer,  determines 
to  put  aside  from  his  path  the  secret   stumbling-block 


2  HAND   AND    RING. 

to  his  desires  or  his  ambition  that  the  true  intellectual 
crime  is  developed.  That  brute  whom  you  see  slouch- 
ing along  over  the  way  is  the  type  of  the  average 
criminal  of  the  day." 

And  he  indicated  with  a  nod  a  sturdy,  ill-favored  man, 
who,  with  pack  on  his  back,  was  just  emerging  from 
a  grassy  lane  that  opened  out  from  the  street  directly 
opposite  the  court-house. 

"Such  men  are  often  seen  in  the  dock,"  remarked 
Mr.  Orcutt,  of  more  than  local  reputation  as  a  criminal 
lawyer.  "  And  often  escape  the  penalty  of  their  crimes," 
he  added,  watching,  with  a  curious  glance,  the  lowering 
brow  and  furtive  look  of  the  man  who,  upon  perceiving 
the  attention  he  had  attracted,  increased  his  pace  till  he 
almost  broke  into  a  run. 

"  Looks  as  if  he  had  been  up  to  mischief,"  observed 
Judge  Evans. 

"  Rather  as  if  he  had  heard  the  sentence  which  was 
passed  upon  the  last  tramp  who  paid  his  respects  to 
this  town,"  corrected  Mr.  Lord. 

"  Revenons  a  nos  moutons"  resumed  the  District  Attor- 
ney. "  Crime,  as  an  investment,  does  not  pay  in  this 
country.  The  regular  burglar  leads  a  dog's  life  of  it  ; 
and  when  you  come  to  the  murderer,  how  few  escape 
suspicion  if  they  do  the  gallows.  I  do  not  know  of  a  case 
where  a  murder  for  money  has  been  really  successful  in 
this  region." 

**  Then  you  must  have  some  pretty  cute  detective  work 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.        3 

going  on  here,"  remarked  a  young  man  who  had  not  be- 
fore spoken. 

"  No,  no — nothing  to  brag  of.  But  the  brutes  are  so 
clumsy — that  is  the  word,  clumsy.  They  don't  know  how 
to  cover  up  their  tracks." 

"  The  smart  ones  don't  make  tracks,"  interposed  a 
rough  voice  near  them,  and  a  large,  red-haired,  slightly 
hump-backed  man,  who,  from  the  looks  of  those  about, 
was  evidently  a  stranger  in  the  place,  shuffled  forward 
from  the  pillar  against  which  he  had  been  leaning,  and 
took  up  the  thread  of  conversation. 

"  I  tell  you,"  he  continued,  in  a  gruff  tone  somewhat 
out  of  keeping  with  the  studied  abstraction  of  his  keen, 
gray  eye,  "  that  half  the  criminals  are  caught  because  they 
do  make  tracks  and  then  resort  to  such  extraordinary 
means  to  cover  them  up.  The  true  secret  of  success  in 
this  line  lies  in  striking  your  blow  with  a  weapon  picked 
up  on  the  spot,  and  in  choosing  for  the  scene  of  your  trag- 
edy a  thoroughfare  where,  in  the  natural  course  of  events, 
other  men  will  come  and  go  and  unconsciously  tread  out 
your  traces,  provided  you  have  made  any.  This  dissi- 
pates suspicion,  or  starts  it  in  so  many  directions  that 
justice  is  at  once  confused,  if  not  ultimately  bafifled. 
Look  at  that  house  yonder,"  the  stranger  pursued,  point- 
ing to  a  plain  dwelling  on  the  opposite  corner.  "  While 
we  have  been  standing  here,  several  persons  of  one  kind 
or  another,  and  among  them  a  pretty  rough-looking  tramp, 
have  gone  into  the  side  gate  and  so  around  to  the  kitchen 


4  HAND   AND   RING. 

door  and  back.  I  don't  know  who  lives  there,  but  say  it 
is  a  solitary  old  woman  above  keeping  help,  and  that  an 
hour  from  now  some  one,  not  finding  her  in  the  house, 
searches  through  the  garden  and  comes  upon  her  lying 
dead  behind  the  wood-pile,  struck  down  by  her  own  axe. 
On  whom  are  you  going  to  lay  your  hand  in  suspicion  ? 
On  the  stranger,  of  course — the  rough-looking  tramp 
that  everybody  thinks  is  ready  for  bloodshed  at  the 
least  provocation.  But  suspicion  is  not  conviction,  and  I 
would  dare  wager  that  no  court,  in  face  of  a  persistent 
denial  on  his  part  that  he  even  saw  the  old  woman  when 
he  went  to  her  door,  would  bring  in  a  verdict  of  murder 
against  him,  even  though  silver  from  her  private  drawer 
were  found  concealed  upon  his  person.  The  chance  that  he 
spoke  the  truth,  and  that  she  was  not  in  the  house  when  he 
entered,  and  that  his  crime  had  been  merely  one  of  bur- 
glary or  theft,  would  be  enough  to  save  him  from  the 
hangman." 

"  That  is  true,"  assented  Mr,  Lord,  "  unless  all  the 
other  persons  who  had  been  seen  to  go  into  the  yard  were 
not  only  reputable  men,  but  were  willing  to  testify  to  hav- 
ing seen  the  woman  alive  up  to  the  time  he  invaded  her 
premises." 

But  the  hump-backed  stranger  had  already  lounged 
away. 

"  What  do  you  think  about  this,  Mr.  Byrd  ? "  inquired 
the  District  Attorney,  turning  to  the  young  man  before  al- 
luded   to.     "You    are    an    expert   in    these    matters,    or 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.        5 

ought   to    be.     What    would    you    give   for   the    tramp'-s 
chances  if  the  detectives  took  him  in  hand  ?  " 

"  I,  sir  ?  "  was  the  response.  "  I  am  so  comparatively- 
young  and  inexperienced  in  such  affairs,  that  I  scarcely 
dare  presume  to  express  an  opinion.  But  I  have  heard 
it  said  by  Mr,  Gryce,  who  you  know  stands  foremost 
among  the  detectives  of  New  York,  that  the  only  case  of 
murder  in  which  he  utterly  failed  to  get  any  clue  to  work 
upon,  was  that  of  a  Jew  who  was  knocked  down  in  his 
own  shop  in  broad  daylight.  But  this  will  not  appear  so 
strange  when  you  learn  the  full  particulars.  The  store 
was  situated  between  two  alley-ways  in  Harlem.  It  had 
an  entrance  back  and  an  entrance  front.  Both  were  in 
constant  use.  The  man  was  found  behind  his  counter, 
having  evidently  been  hit  on  the  head  by  a  slung-shot 
while  reaching  for  a  box  of  hosiery.  But  though  a  suc- 
cession of  people  were  constantly  passing  by  both  doors, 
there  was  for  that  very  reason  no  one  to  tell  which  of  all 
the  men  who  were  observed  to  enter  the  shop,  came  out 
again  with  blood  upon  his  conscience.  Nor  were  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  Jew's  life  such  as  to  assist  justice.  The 
most  careful  investigation  failed  to  disclose  the  existence 
of  any  enemy,  nor  was  he  found  to  possess  in  this  coun- 
try, at  least,  any  relative  who  could  have  hoped  to  be 
benefited  by  the  few  dollars  he  had  saved  from  a  late 
bankruptcy.  The  only  conclusion  to  be  drawn  is  that  the 
man  ^^tas  secretly  in  the  way  of  some  one  and  was  as 
secretly  put  out  of  it,  but  for  what  purpose  or  by  whose 
hand,  time  has  never  disclosed." 


6  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  There  is  one,  however,  who  knows  both,"  affirmed 
Judge  Evans,  impressively. 

"  The  man  himself  ?  " 

"  God  !  " 

The  solemnity  with  which  this  was  uttered  caused  a 
silence,  during  which  Mr.  Orcutt  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  I  must  go  to  dinner,"  he  announced,  virithdrawing, 
with  a  slight  nod,  across  the  street. 

The  rest  stood  for  a  few  minutes  abstractedly  contem- 
plating his  retreating  figure,  as  with  an  energetic  pace  all 
his  own  he  passed  down  the  little  street  that  opened  op- 
posite to  where  they  stood,  and  entered  the  unpretending 
cottage  of  a  widow  lady,  with  whom  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  taking  his  mid-day  meal  whenever  he  had  a  case  before 
the  court. 

A  lull  was  over  the  whole  village,  and  the  few  remain- 
ing persons  on  the  court-house  steps  were  about  to  sep- 
arate, when  Mr.  Lord  uttered  an  exclamation  and  pointed 
to  the  cottage  into  which  they  had  just  seen  Mr.  Orcutt 
disappear.  Immediately  all  eyes  looked  that  way  and 
saw  the  lawyer  standing  on  the  stoop,  having  evidently 
issued  with  the  utmost  precipitation  from  the  house. 

"  He  is  making  signs,"  cried  Mr.  Lord  to  Mr.  Ferris  ; 
and  scarcely  knowing  what  they  feared,  both  gentlemen 
crossed  the  way  and  hurried  down  the  street  toward 
their  friend,  who,  with  unusual  tokens  of  disturbance  in 
his  manner,  ran  forward  to  meet  them. 

"  A  murder !  "  he  excitedly  exclaimed,  as  soon  as  he 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.        J 

came  within  speaking  distance.  "  A  strange  and  startling 
coincidence.  Mrs.  Clemmens  has  been  struck  on  the 
head,  and  is  lying  covered  with  blood  at  the  foot  of  her 
dining-room  table." 

Mr.  Lord  and  the  District  Attorney  stared  at  each 
other  in  a  maze  of  surprise  and  horror  easily  to  be  com- 
prehended, and  then  they  rushed  forward. 

"Wait  a  moment,"  the  latter  suddenly  cried,  stopping 
short  and  looking  back.  "Where  is  the  fellow  who  talked 
so  learnedly  about  murder  and  the  best  way  of  making  a 
success  of  it.  He  must  be  found  at  once.  I  don't  be- 
lieve in  coincidences."  And  he  beckoned  to  the  person 
they  had  called  Byrd,  who  with  very  pardonable  curiosity 
was  hurrying  their  way.  "  Go  find  Hunt,  the  constable," 
he  cried  ;  "  tell  him  to  stop  and  retain  the  humpback. 
A  woman  here  has  been  found  murdered,  and  that  fellow 
must  have  known  something  about  it." 

The  young  man  stared,  flushed  with  sudden  intelli- 
gence, and  darted  off.  Mr.  Ferris  turned,  found  Mr. 
Orcutt  still  at  his  side,  and  drew  him  forward  to  rejoin 
Mr.  Lord,  who  by  this  time  was  at  the  door  of  the 
cottage. 

They  all  went  in  together,  Mr.  Ferris,  who  was  of  an 
adventurous  disposition,  leading  the  way.  The  room 
into  which  they  first  stepped  was  empty.  It  was  evidently 
the  widow's  sitting-room,  and  was  in  perfect  order,  with 
the  exception  of  Mr.  Orcutt's  hat,  which  lay  on  the  centre- 
table  where  he  had  laid  it  on  entering.     Neat,  without 


8  HAND   AND    RING. 

being  prim,  the  entire  aspect  of  the  place  was  one  of 
comfort,  ease,  and  modest  luxury.  For,  though  the 
Widow  Clemmens  lived  alone  and  without  help,  she  was 
by  no  means  an  indigent  person,  as  a  single  glance  at  her 
house  would  show.  The  door  leading  into  the  farther 
room  was  open,  and  toward  this  they  hastened,  led  by 
the  glitter  of  the  fine  old  china  service  which  loaded  the 
dining-table. 

"  She  is  tliere,"  said  Mr.  Orcutt,  pointing  to  the  other 
side  of  the  room. 

They  immediately  passed  behind  the  table,  and  there, 
sure  enough,  lay  the  prostrate  figure  of  the  widow,  her 
head  bleeding,  her  arms  extended,  one  hangl  grasping  her 
watch,  which  she  had  loosened  from  her  belt,  the  other 
stretched  toward  a  stick  of  firewood,  that,  from  the  mark 
of  blood  upon  its  side,  had  evidently  been  used  to  fell 
her  to  the  floor.  She  was  motionless  as  stone,  and  was, 
to  all  appearance,  dead, 

"  Sickening,  sickening  ! — horrible  !  "  exclaimed  Mr. 
Lord,  recoiling  upon  the  District  Attorney  with  a  gesture, 
as  if  he  would  put  the  frightful  object  out  of  his  sight. 
"  What  motive  could  any  one  have  for  killing  such  an  in- 
offensive woman  ?  The  deviltry  of  man  is  beyond 
belief !  " 

"  And  after  what  we  have  heard,  inexplicable,"  asserted 
Mr.  Ferris.  "  To  be  told  of  a  supposable  case  of  murder 
one  minute,  and  then  to  see  it  exemplified  in  this  dread- 
ful way  the  next,  is  an  experience  of  no  common  order. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.        9 

I  own  I  am  overcome  by  it."  And  he  flung  open  a  door 
that  communicated  with  the  lane  and  let  the  outside  air 
sweep  in. 

"  That  door  was  unlocked,"  remarked  Mr.  Lord, 
glancing  at  Mr.  Orcutt,  who  stood  with  severe,  set  face, 
looking  down  at  the  outstretched  form  which,  for  several 
years  now,  had  so  often  sat  opposite  to  him  at  his  noonday 
meal. 

With  a  start  the  latter  looked  up.  "  What  did  you  say  ? 
The  door  unlocked  ?  There  is  nothing  strange  in  that. 
She  never  locked  her  doors,  though  she  was  so  very  deaf 
I  often  advised  her  to."  And  he  allowed  his  eyes  to  run 
over  the  wide  stretch  of  low,  uncultivated  ground  before 
him,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  many  persons,  was  such  a  de- 
cided blot  upon  the  town.  "  There  is  no  one  in  sight,"  he 
reluctantly  admitted. 

"  No,"  responded  the  other.  "  The  ground  is  unfavor- 
able for  escape.  It  is  marshy  and  covered  with  snake 
grass.  A  man  could  make  his  way,  however,  between 
the  hillocks  into  those  woods  yonder,  if  he  were  driven  by 
fear  or  understood  the  path  well.  What  is  the  matter, 
Orcutt  ? " 

"  Nothing,"  affirmed  the  latter, — "nothing,  I  thought  I 
heard  a  groan." 

"  You  heard  me  make  an  exclamation,"  spoke  up  Mr. 
Ferris,  who  by  this  time  had  sufficiently  overcome  his 
emotion  to  lift  the  head  of  the  prostrate  woman  and  look 
in  her  face.     "This  woman  is  not  dead." 


lO  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  What  !  "  they  both  cried,  bounding  forward. 

"  See,  she  breathes,"  continued  the  former,  pointing  to 
her  slowly  laboring  chest.  "  The  villain,  whoever  he  was, 
did  not  do  his  work  well  ;  she  may  be  able  to  tell  us  some- 
thing yet." 

"  I  do  not  think  so,"  murmured  Mr.  Orcutt.  "  Such  a 
blow  as  that  must  have  destroyed  her  faculties,  if  not  her 
life.     It  was  of  cruel  force." 

"  However  that  may  be,  she  ought  to  be  taken  care 
of  now,"  cried  Mr.  Ferris.  "  I  wish  Dr.  Tredwell  was 
here." 

''  I  will  go  for  him,"  signified  the  other. 

But  it  was  not  necessary.  Scarcely  had  the  lawyer 
turned  to  execute  this  mission,  when  a  sudden  murmur 
was  heard  at  the  door,  and  a  dozen  or  so  citizens  burst 
into  the  house,  among  them  the  very  person  named. 
Being  coroner  as  well  as  physician,  he  at  once  assumed 
authority.  The  widow  was  carried  into  her  room,  which 
was  on  the  same  floor,  and  a  brother  practitioner  sent  for, 
who  took  his  place  at  her  head  and  waited  for  any  sign  of 
returning  consciousness.  The  crowd,  remanded  to  the 
yard,  spent  their  time  alternately  in  furtive  questionings 
of  each  other's  countenances,  and  in  eager  lookout  for 
the  expected  return  of  the  strange  young  man  who  had 
been  sent  after  the  incomprehensible  humpback  of 
whom  all  had  heard.  The  coroner,  closeted  with  the 
District  Attorney  in  the  dining-room,  busied  himself  in 
noting  certain  evident  facts. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO,       II 

"  I  am,  perhaps,  forestalling  my  duties  in  interfering 
before  the  woman  is  dead,"  intimated  the  former.  "But 
it  is  only  a  matter  of  a  few  hours,  and  any  facts  we  can 
glean  in  the  interim  must  be  of  value  to  a  proper  con- 
duct of  the  inquiry  I  shall  be  called  upon  to  hold.  I 
shall  therefore  make  the  same  note  of  the  position  of  af- 
fairs as  I  would  do  if  she  were  dead  ;  and  to  begin  with, 
I  wish  you  to  observe  that  she  was  hit  while  setting  the 
clock."  And  he  pointed  to  the  open  door  of  the  huge 
old-fashioned  timepiece  which  occupied  that  corner  of 
the  room  in  which  she  had  been  found.  "  She  had  not 
even  finished  her  task,"  he  next  remarked,  "for  the 
clock  is  still  ten  minutes  slow,  while  her  watch  is  just 
right,  as  you  will  see  by  comparing  it  with  your  own. 
She  was  attacked  from  behind,  and  to  all  appearances  un- 
expectedly. Had  she  turned,  her  forehead  would  have 
been  struck,  while,  as  all  can  see,  it  is  the  back  of  her  head 
that  has  suffered,  and  that  from  a  right-hand  blow. 
Her  deafness  was  undoubtedly  the  cause  of  her  immo- 
bility under  the  approach  of  such  an  assailant.  She 
did  not  hear  his  step,  and,  being  so  busily  engaged,  saw 
nothing  of  the  cruel  hand  uplifted  to  destroy  her.  I 
doubt  if  she  even  knew  what  happened.  The  mystery  is 
that  any  one  could  have  sufficiently  desired  her  death  to 
engage  in  such  a  cold-blooded  butchery.  If  plunder 
were  wanted,  why  was  not  her  watch  taken  from  her  ? 
And  see,  here  is  a  pile  of  small  change  lying  beside  her 
plate  on  the  table, — a  thing  a  tramp  would  make  for  at 
once." 


12  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  It  was  not  a  thief  that  struck  her," 

"Well,  well,  we  don't  know.  I  have  my  own  theory," 
admitted  the  coroner  ;  "but,  of  course,  it  will  not  do  for 
me  to  mention  it  here.  The  stick  was  taken  from  that 
pile  laid  ready  on  the  hearth,"  he  went  on.  "  Odd,  sig- 
nificantly odd,  that  in  all  its  essential  details  this  affair 
should  tally  so  completely  with  the  supposable  case  of 
crime  given  a  moment  before  by  the  deformed  wretch 
you  tell  me  about." 

"  Not  if  that  man  was  a  madman  and  the  assailant," 
suggested  the  District  Attorney. 

"  True,  but  I  do  not  think  he  was  mad — not  from  what 
you  have  told  me.  But  let  us  see  what  the  commotion  is. 
Some  one  has  evidently  arrived." 

It  was  Mr.  Byrd,  who  had  entered  by  the  front  door, 
and  deaf  to  the  low  murmur  of  the  impatient  crowd 
without,  stood  waiting  in  silent  patience  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  report  to  the  District  Attorney  the  results  of  his 
efforts. 

Mr.  Ferris  at  once  welcomed  him. 

"  What  have  you  done  ?  Did  you  find  tlie  constable 
or  succeed  in  laying  hands  on  that  scamp  of  a  hump- 
back ?  " 

Mr.  Byrd,  who,  to  explain  at  once,  was  a  young  and 
intelligent  detective,  who  had  been  brought  from  New 
York  for  purposes  connected  with  the  case  then  before 
the  court,  glanced  carefully  in  the  direction  of  the  coro- 
ner and  quietly  replied  : 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       1 3 

"  The  hump-backed  scamp,  as  you  call  him,  has  dis- 
appeared. Whether  he  will  be  found  or  not  I  cannot 
say.  Hunt  is  on  his  track,  and  will  report  to  you 
in  an  hour.  The  tramp  whom  you  saw  slinking  out 
of  this  street  while  we  stood  on  the  court-house  steps 
is  doubtless  the  man  whom  you  most  want,  and  him 
we  have  captured." 

"  You  have  ? "  repeated  Mr.  Ferris,  eying,  with  good- 
natured  irony,  the  young  man's  gentlemanly  but  rather 
indifferent  face.  "  And  what  makes  you  think  it  is  the 
tramp  who  is  the  guilty  one  in  this  case  ?  Because  that 
ingenious  stranger  saw  fit  to  make  him  such  a  prominent 
figure  in  his  suppositions  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  replied  the  detective,  flushing  with  a  mo- 
mentary embarrassment  he  however  speedily  overcame ; 
"  I  do  not  found  my  opinions  upon  any  man's  remarks. 
I  only Excuse  me,"  said  he,  with  a  quiet  air  of  self- 
control  that  was  not  without  its  effect  upon  the  sensible 
man  he  was  addressing.  "  If  you  will  tell  me  how,  where, 
and  under  what  circumstances  this  poor  murdered  woman 
was  found,  perhaps  I  shall  be  better  able  to  explain  my 
reasons  for  believing  in  the  tramp  as  the  guilty  party  ; 
though  the  belief,  even  of  a  detective,  goes  for  but  little 
in  matters  of  this  kind,  as  you  and  these  other  gentlemen 
very  well  know." 

"  Step  here,  then,"  signified  Mr.  Ferris,  who,  accom- 
panied by  the  coroner,  had  already  passed  around  the 
table.     **  Do  you  see   that  clock  ?     She  was  winding  it 


14  HAND   AND    RING. 

when  she  was  struck,  and  fell  almost  at  its  foot.  The 
weapon  which  did  the  execution  lies  over  there  ;  it  is  a 
stick  of  firewood,  as  you  see,  and  was  caught  up  from 
that  pile  on  the  hearth.  Now  recall  what  that  humpback 
said  about  choosing  a  thoroughfare  for  a  murder  (and 
this  house  is  a  thoroughfare),  and  the  peculiar  stress 
which  he  laid  upon  the  choice  of  a  weapon,  and  tell  me 
why  you  think  he  is  innocent  of  this  immediate  and  most 
remarkable  exemplification  of  his  revolting  theory  ?  " 

"  Let  me  first  ask,"  ventured  the  other,  with  a  remain- 
ing tinge  of  embarrassment  coloring  his  cheek,  "  if  you 
have  reason  to  think  this  woman  had  been  lying  long 
where  she  was  found,  or  was  she  struck  soon  before  the 
discovery  ? " 

"  Soon.  The  dinner  was  still  smoking  in  the  kitchen, 
where  it  had  been  dished  up  ready  for  serving." 

"  Then,"  declared  the  detective  with  sudden  con- 
fidence, "  a  single  word  will  satisfy  you  that  the  humpback 
was  not  the  man  who  delivered  this  stroke.  To  lay  that 
woman  low  at  the  foot  of  this  clock  would  require  the 
presence  of  the  assailant  in  the  room.  Now,  the  hump- 
back was  not  here  this  morning,  but  in  the  court-room.  I 
know  this,  for  I  saw  him  there." 

"  You  did  .''  You  are  sure  of  that  ?  "  cried,  in  a  breath, 
both  his  hearers,  somewhat  taken  aback  by  this  revelation. 

"  Yes.  He  sat  down  by  the  door.  I  noticed  him  par- 
ticularly." 

"  Humph  !  that  is  odd,"  quoth   Mr.   Ferris,  with  the 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       1 5 

testiness  of  an  irritable  man  who  sees  himself  contradicted 
in  a  publicly  expressed  theory. 

"  Very  odd,"  repeated  the  coroner  ;  "  so  odd,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  he  did  not  sit  there  every  moment  of 
the  time.  It  is  but  a  step  from  the  court-house  here  ;  he 
might  well  have  taken  the  trip  and  returned  while  you 
wiped  your  eye-glasses  or  was  otherwise  engaged." 

Mr.  Byrd  did  not  see  fit  to  answer  this. 

"  The  tramp  is  an  ugly-looking  customer,"  he  remarked, 
in  what  was  almost  a  careless  tone  of  voice. 

Mr,  Ferris  covered  with  his  hand  the  pile  of  loose 
change  that  was  yet  lying  on  the  table,  and  shortly  ob- 
served : 

"A  tramp  to  commit  such  a  crime  must  be  actuated 
either  by  rage  or  cupidity  ;  that  you  will  acknowledge. 
Now  the  fellow  who  struck  this  woman  could  not  have 
been  excited  by  any  sudden  anger,  for  the  whole  position 
of  her  body  when  found  proves  that  she  had  not  even 
turned  to  face  the  intruder,  much  less  engaged  in  an 
altercation  with  him.  Yet  how  could  it  have  been  money 
he  was  after,  when  a  tempting  bit  like  this  remained  un- 
disturbed upon  the  table  ?  " 

And  Mr.  Ferris,  with  a  sudden  gesture,  disclosed  to 
view  the  pile  of  silver  coin  he  had  been  concealing. 

The  young  detective  shook  his  head  but  lost  none  of 
his  seeming  indifference.  "  That  is  one  of  the  little 
anomalies  of  criminal  experience  that  we  were  talking 
about  this  morning,"  he  remarked.     "  Perhaps  the  fellow 


1 6  HAND   AND   RING. 

was  frightened  and  lost  his  head,  or  perhaps  he  really 
heard  some  one  at  the  door,  and  was  obliged  to  escape 
without  reaping  any  of  the  fruits  of  his  crime." 

"  Perhaps  and  perhaps,"  retorted  Mr.  Ferris,  who  was 
a  quick  man,  and  who,  once  settled  in  abeUef,  was  not  to 
be  easily  shaken  out  of  it. 

"  However  that  may  be,"  continued  Mr.  Byrd,  without 
seeming  to  notice  the  irritating  interruption,  "  I  still  think 
that  the  tramp,  rather  than  the  humpback,  will  be  the 
man  to  occupy  your  future  attention." 

And  with  a  deprecatory  bow  to  both  gentlemen,  he 
drew  back  and  quietly  left  the  room. 

Mr.  Ferris  at  once  recovered  from  his  momentary  loss 
of  temper. 

"  I  suppose  the  young  man  is  right,"  he  acknowledged  ; 
"but,  if  so,  what  an  encouragement  we  have  received  this 
morning  to  a  belief  in  clairvoyance."  And  with  less 
irony  and  more  conviction,  he  added  :  "The  humpback 
i7mst  have  known  something  about  the  murder." 

And  the  coroner  bowed  ;  common-sense  undoubtedly 
agreeing  with  this  assumption. 


THE  GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  1/ 


II. 

AN    APPEAL    TO    HEAVEN. 
Her  step  was  royal— queen-like. — Longfellow. 

IT  was  now  half-past  one.  An  hour  and  a  half  had 
elapsed  since  the  widow  had  been  laid  upon  her  bed, 
and  to  all  appearance  no  change  had  taken  place  in  her 
condition.  Within  the  room  where  she  lay  were  collected 
the  doctor  and  one  or  two  neighbors  of  the  female  sex, 
who  watched  every  breath  she  drew,  and  stood  ready  to 
notice  the  slightest  change  in  the  stony  face  that,  dim  with 
the  shadow  of  death,  stared  upon  them  from  the  un- 
ruffled pillows.  In  the  sitting-room  Lawyer  Orcutt  con- 
versed in  a  subdued  voice  with  Mr.  Ferris,  in  regard  to 
such  incidents  of  the  widow's  life  as  had  come  under  his 
notice  in  the  years  of  their  daily  companionship,  while 
the  crowd  about  the  gate  vented  their  interest  in  loud  ex- 
clamations of  wrath  against  the  tramp  who  had  been 
found,  and  the  unknown  humpback  who  had  not.  Our 
story  leads  us  into  the  crowd  in  front. 

"I  don't  think  she  '11  ever  come  to,"  said  one,  who 
from  his  dusty  coat  might  have  been  a  miller.  "  Blows 
like  that  have'nt  much  let-up  about  them." 

"  Doctor  says  she  will  die  before  morning,"  put  in  a 
pert  young  miss,  anxious  to  have  her  voice  heard. 


l8  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Then  it  will  be  murder  and  no  mistake,  and  that 
brute  of  a  tramp  will  hang  as  high  as  Haman." 

"  Don't  condemn  a  man  before  you  've  had  a  chance  to 
hear  what  he  has  to  say  for  himself,"  cried  another  in  a 
strictly  judicial  tone.  "  How  do  you  know  as  he  came  to 
this  house  at  all  ?  " 

"  Miss  Perkins  says  he  did,  and  Mrs.  Phillips  too  ;  they 
saw  him  go  into  the  gate." 

"And  what  else  did  they  see  ?  I  warrant  he  was  n't  the 
only  beggar  that  was  roaming  round  this  morning." 

"  No  ;  there  was  a  tin  peddler  in  the  street,  for  I  saw 
him  my  own  self,  and  Mrs.  Clemmens  standing  in  the 
door  flourishing  her  broom  at  him.  She  was  mighty  short 
with  such  folks.  Would  n't  wonder  if  some  of  the  unholy 
wretches  killed  her  out  of  spite.  They  're  a  wicked  lot, 
the  whole  of  them." 

"  Widow  Clemmens  had  a  quick  temper,  but  she  had  a 
mighty  good  heart  notwithstanding.  See  how  kind  she 
was  to  them  Hubbells." 

"And  how  hard  she  was  to  that  Pratt  girl." 

"Well,  I  know,  but "     And  so  on  and  so  on,  in  a 

hum  and  a  buzz  about  the  head  of  Mr.  Byrd,  who,  en- 
gaged in  thought  seemingly  far  removed  from  the  subject 
in  hand,  stood  leaning  against  the  fence,  careless  and  in- 
souciant. Suddenly  there  was  a  lull,  then  a  short  cry, 
then  a  woman's  voice  rose  clear,  ringing,  and  command- 
ing, and  Mr.  Byrd  caught  the  following  words  : 

"  What  is  this  I  hear?     Mrs.  Clemmens  dead  ?     Struck 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       1 9 

down  by  some  wandering  tramp  ?  Murdered  and  in  her 
own  house  ?  " 

In  an  instant,  every  eye,  including  Mr.  Byrd's,  was 
fixed  upon  the  speaker.  The  crowd  parted,  and  the 
young  girl,  who  had  spoken  from  the  street,  came  into 
the  gate.  She  was  a  remarkable-looking  person.  Tall, 
large,  and  majestic  in  every  proportion  of  an  unusually 
noble  figure,  she  was  of  a  make  and  possessed  a  bearing 
to  attract  attention  had  she  borne  a  less  striking  and 
beautiful  countenance.  As  it  was,  the  glance  lingered 
but  a  moment  on  the  grand  curves  and  lithe  loveliness  of 
that  matchless  figure,  and  passed  at  once  to  the  face. 
Once  there,  it  did  not  soon  wander  ;  for  though  its  beauty 
was  incontestable,  the  something  that  lay  behind  that 
beauty  was  more  incontestable  still,  and  held  you,  in  spite 
of  yourself,  long  after  you  had  become  acquainted  with 
the  broad  white  brow,  the  clear,  deep,  changing  gray  eye, 
the  straight  but  characteristic  nose,  and  the  ruddy,  ner- 
vous lip.  You  felt  that,  young  and  beautiful  as  she  was, 
and  charming  as  she  might  be,  she  was  also  one  of 
nature's  unsolvable  mysteries — a  woman  whom  you  might 
study,  obey,  adore,  but  whom  you  could  never  hope  to 
understand  ;  a  Sphinx  without  an  Qidipus.  She  was 
dressed  in  dark  green,  and  held  her  gloves  in  her  hand. 
Her  appearance  was  that  of  one  who  had  been  pro- 
foundly startled. 

"  Why  don't  some  one  answer  me  ?  "  she  asked,  after 
an  instant's  pause,  seemingly  unconscious  that,  alike  to 


20  HAND   AND    RING. 

those  who  knew  her  and  to  those  who  did  not,  her  air  and 
manner  were  such  as  to  naturally  impose  silence,  "  Must 
I  go  into  the  house  in  order  to  find  out  if  this  good 
woman  is  dead  or  not  ? " 

"  Shure  she  is  n't  dead  yet,"  spoke  up  a  brawny  butch- 
er-boy, bolder  than  the  rest.  "But  she  's  sore  hurt,  miss, 
and  the  doctors  say  as  how  there  is  no  hope." 

A  change  impossible  to  understand  passed  over  the 
girl's  face.  Had  she  been  less  vigorous  of  body,  she 
would  have  staggered.  As  it  was,  she  stood  still,  rigidly 
still,  and  seemed  to  summon  up  her  faculties,  till  the  very 
clinch  of  her  fingers  spoke  of  the  strong  control  she  was 
putting  upon  herself. 

"  It  is  dreadful,  dreadful  !  "  she  murmured,  this  time 
in  a  whisper,  and  as  if  to  some  rising  protest  in  her  own 
soul.  "No  good  can  come  of  it,  none."  Then,  as  if 
awakening  to  the  scene  about  her,  shook  her  head  and 
cried  to  those  nearest :  "  It  was  a  tramp  who  did  it,  I 
suppose  ;  at  least,  I  am  told  so." 

'■  A  tramp  has  been  took  up,  miss,  on  suspicion,  as  they 
call  it." 

"  If  a  tramp  has  been  taken  up  on  suspicion,  then  he 
was  the  one  who  assailed  her,  of  course."  And  pushing 
on  through  the  crowd  that  fell  back  still  more  awe-struck 
than  before,  she  went  into  the  house. 

The  murmur  that  followed  her  was  subdued  but  uni- 
versal. It  made  no  impression  on  Mr.  Byrd.  He  had 
leaned  forward  to  watch  the  girl's  retreating  form,  but, 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  21 

finding  his  view  intercepted  by  the  wrinkled  profile  of 
an  old  crone  who  had  leaned  forward  too,  had  drawn 
impatiently  back.  Something  in  that  crone's  aged  face 
made  him  address  her. 

"You  know  the  lady  ?  "  he  inquired.  \ 

"  Yes,"  was  the  cautious  reply,  given,  however,  with  a 
leer  he  found  not  altogether  pleasant. 

"  She  is  a  relative  of  the  injured  woman,  or  a  friend, 
perhaps  ? " 

The  old  woman's  face  looked  frightful. 

"  No,"  she  muttered  grimly  ;  "they  are  strangers." 

At  this  unexpected  response  Mr.  Byrd  made  a  per- 
ceptible start  forward.  The  old  woman's  hand  fell  at 
once  on  his  arm. 

"  Stay  !  "  she  hoarsely  whispered.  "  By  strangers  I 
mean  they  don't  visit  each  other.  The  town  is  too  small 
for  any  of  us  to  be  strangers." 

Mr.  Byrd  nodded  and  escaped  her  clutch. 

*'  This  is  worth  seeing  through,"  he  murmured,  with 
the  first  gleam  of  interest  he  had  shown  in  the  affair. 
And,  hurrying  forward,  he  succeeded  in  following  the 
lady  into  the  house. 

The  sight  he  met  there  did  not  tend  to  allay  his  new- 
born interest.  There  she  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  sit- 
ting-room, tall,  resolute,  and  commanding,  her  eyes  fixed 
on  the  door  of  the  room  that  contained  the  still  breathing 
sufferer,  Mr.  Orcutt's  eyes  fixed  upon  her.  It  seemed 
as  if  she  had  asked  one  question  and  been  answered  ; 
there  had  not  been  time  for  more. 


22  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  to  say  in  apology  for  my  intru- 
sion," she  remarked.  "  But  the  death,  or  almost  the 
death,  of  a  person  of  whom  we  have  all  heard,  seems  to 
me  so  terrible  that " 

But  here  Mr.  Orcutt  interrupted  gently,  almost  tender- 
ly, but  with  a  fatherly  authority  which  Mr.  Byrd  expect- 
ed to  see  her  respect. 

"  Imogene,"  he  observed,  "this  is  no  place  for  you  ; 
the  horror  of  the  event  has  made  you  forget  yourself  ;  go 
home  and  trust  me  to  tell  you  on  my  return  all  that  it  is 
advisable  for  you  to  know." 

But  she  did  not  even  meet  his  glance  with  her  steady 
eyes.  "  Thank  you,"  she  protested  ;  "  but  I  cannot  go 
till  I  have  seen  the  place  where  this  woman  fell  and  the 
weapon  with  which  she  was  struck.  I  want  to  see  it  all. 
Mr.  Ferris,  will  you  show  me  ?  "  And  without  giving 
any  reason  for  this  extraordinary  request,  she  stood  wait- 
ing with  that  air  of  conscious  authority  which  is  some- 
times given  by  great  beauty  when  united  to  a  distin- 
guished personal  presence. 

The  District  Attorney,  taken  aback,  moved  toward  the 
dining-room  door.  "I  will  consult  with  the  coroner," 
said  he. 

But  she  waited  for  no  man's  leave.  Following  close 
behind  him,  she  entered  upon  the  scene  of  the  tragedy. 

"  Where  was  the  poor  woman  hit  ?  "  she  inquired. 

They  told  her  ;  they  showed  her  all  she  desired  and 
asked  her  no  questions.  She  awed  them,  all  but  Mr. 
Orcutt — him  she  both  astonished  and  alarmed. 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  23 

"  And  a  tramp  did  all  this  ?  "  she  finally  exclaimed,  in 
the  odd,  musing  tone  she  had  used  once  before,  while  her 
eye  fell  thoughtfully  to  the  floor.  Suddenly  she  started, 
or  so  Mr.  Byrd  fondly  imagined,  and  moved  a  pace,  set- 
ting her  foot  carefully  down  upon  a  certain  spot  in  the 
carpet  beneath  her. 

"She  has  spied  something,"  he  thought,  and  watched 
to  see  if  she  would  stoop. 

But  no,  she  held  herself  still  more  erectly  than  before, 
and  seemed,  by  her  rather  desultory  inquiries,  to  be 
striving  to  engage  the  attention  of  the  others  from  herself. 

"  There  is  some  one  surely  tapping  at  this  door,"  she 
intimated,  pointing  to  the  one  that  opened  into  the  lane. 

Dr.  Tredwell  moved  to  see. 

"  Is  there  not  ?  "  she  repeated,  glancing  at  Mr.  Ferris. 

He,  too,  turned  to  see. 

But  there  was  still  an  eye  regarding  her  from  behind 
the  sitting-room  door,  and,  perceiving  it,  she  impatiently 
ceased  her  efforts.  She  was  not  mistaken  about  the 
tapping.  A  man  was  at  the  door  whom  both  gentlemen 
seemed  to  know. 

"  I  come  from  the  tavern  where  they  are  holding  this 
tramp  in  custody,"  announced  the  new-comer  in  a  voice 
too  low  to  penetrate  into  the  room.  "  He  is  frightened 
almost  out  of  his  wits.  Seems  to  think  he  was  taken  up 
for  theft,  and  makes  no  bones  of  saying  that  he  did  take 
a  spoon  or  two  from  a  house  where  he  was  let  in  for  a 
bite.     He  gave  up  the  spoons  and  expects  to  go  to  jail. 


24  HAND   AND   RING. 

but  seems  to  have  no  idea  that  any  worse  suspicion  is 
hanging  over  him.  Those  that  stand  around  think  he  is 
innocent  of  the  murder." 

"  Humph  !  well,  we  will  see,"  ejaculated  Mr,  Ferris  ; 
and,  turning  back,  he  met,  with  a  certain  sort  of  compla- 
cence, the  eyes  of  the  young  lady  who  had  been  some- 
what impatiently  awaiting  his  reappearance.  "  It  seems 
there  are  doubts,  after  all,  about  the  tramp  being  the 
assailant." 

The  start  she  gave  was  sudden  and  involuntary.  She 
took  a  step  forward  and  then  paused  as  if  hesitating. 
Instantly,  Mr.  Byrd,  who  had  not  forgotten  the  small 
object  she  had  been  covering  with  her  foot,  sauntered 
leisurely  forward,  and,  spying  a  ring  on  the  floor  where 
she  had  been  standing,  unconcernedly  picked  it  up. 

She  did  not  seem  to  notice  him.  Looking  at  Mr. 
Ferris  with  eyes  whose  startled,  if  not  alarmed,  expression 
she  did  not  succeed  in  hiding  from  the  detective,  she 
inquired,  in  a  stifled  voice  : 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  What  has  this  man  been  telling 
you  ?    You  say  it  was  not  the  tramp.    Who,  then,  was  it  ? " 

"  That  is  a  question  we  cannot  answer,"  rejoined  Mr. 
Ferris,  astonished  at  her  heat,  while  Lawyer  Orcutt, 
moving  forward,  attempted  once  more  to  recall  her  to 
herself. 

"  Imogene,"  he  pleaded, — "  Imogene,  calm  yourself. 
This  is  not  a  matter  of  so  much  importance  to  you  that 
you  need  agitate  yourself  so  violently  in  regard  to   it. 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  2$ 

Come  home,  I  beseech  you,  and  leave  the  affairs  of  justice 
to  the  attention  of  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  look  after 
them." 

But  beyond  acknowledging  his  well-meant  interference 
by  a  deprecatory  glance,  she  stood  immovable,  looking 
from  Dr.  Tredwell  to  Mr.  Ferris,  and  back  again  to  Dr. 
Tredwell,  as  if  she  sought  in  their  faces  some  confirma- 
tion of  a  hideous  doubt  or  fear  that  had  arisen  in  her  own 
mind.     Suddenly  she  felt  a  touch  on  her  arm. 

"Excuse  me,  madam,  but  is  this  yours?"  inquired  a 
smooth  and  careless  voice  over  her  shoulder. 

As  though  awakening  from  a  dream  she  turned  ;  they 
all  turned.  Mr.  Byrd  was  holding  out  in  his  open  palm 
a  ring  blazing  with  a  diamond  of  no  mean  lustre  or 
value. 

The  sight  of  such  a  jewel,  presented  at  such  a  moment, 
completed  the  astonishment  of  her  friends.  Pressing 
forward,  they  stared  at  the  costly  ornament  and  then  at 
her,  Mr,  Orcutt's  face  especially  assuming  a  startled 
expression  of  mingled  surprise  and  apprehension,  that 
soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the  others,  and  led  to  an 
interchange  of  looks  that  denoted  a  mutual  but  not 
unpleasant  understanding. 

"  I  found  it  at  your  feet,"  explained  the  detective,  still 
carelessly,  but  with  just  that  delicate  shade  of  respect  in 
his  voice  necessary  to  express  a  gentleman's  sense  of  pre- 
sumption in  thus  addressing  a  strange  and  beautiful  young 
lady. 


26  HAND   AND    RING. 

The  tone,  if  not  the  explanation,  seemed  to  calm  her, 
as  powerful  natures  are  calmed  in  the  stress  of  a  sudden 
crisis. 

"  Thank'  you,"  she  returned,  not  without  signs  of  great 
sweetness  in  her  look  and  manner.  "  Yes,  it  is  mine  "  she 
added  slowly,  reaching  out  her  hand  and  taking  the  ring. 
"  I  must  have  dropped  it  without  knowing  it."  And 
meeting  the  eye  of  Mr.  Orcutt  fixed  upon  her  with  that 
startled  look  of  inquiry  already  alluded  to,  she  flushed,  but 
placed  the  jewel  nonchalantly  on  her  finger. 

This  cool  appropriation  of  something  he  had  no  reason 
to  believe  hers,  startled  the  youthful  detective  immeasura- 
bly. He  had  not  expected  such  a  dinouemeiit  to  the  little 
drama  he  had  prepared  with  such  quiet  assurance,  and, 
though  with  the  quick  self-control  that  distinguished  him 
he  forbore  to  show  his  surprise,  he  none  the  less  felt  baf- 
fled and  ill  at  ease,  all  the  more  that  the  two  gentlemen 
present,  who  appeared  to  be  the  most  disinterested  in 
their  regard  for  this  young  lady,  seemed  to  accept  this 
act  on  her  part  as  genuine,  and  therefore  not  to  be  ques- 
tioned. 

"  It  is  a  clue  that  is  lost,"  thought  he.  "  I  have  made 
a  mess  of  my  first  unassisted  efforts  at  real  detective 
work."  And,  inwardly  disgusted  with  himself,  he  drew 
back  into  the  other  room  and  took  up  his  stand  at  a  re- 
mote window. 

The  slight  stir  he  made  in  crossing  the  room  seemed  to 
break  a  spell  and  restore  the  minds  of  all  present  to  their 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       2/ 

proper  balance.  Mr.  Orcutt  threw  off  the  shadow  that 
had  momentarily  disturbed  his  quiet  and  assured  mien, 
and  advancing  once  more,  held  out  his  arm  with  even 
more  kindness  than  before,  saying  impressively  : 

"  Now  you  will  surely  consent  to  accompany  me 
home.  You  cannot  mean  to  remain  here  any  longer,  can 
you,  Imogene  ?  " 

But  before  she  could  reply,  before  her  hand  could  lay 
itself  on  his  arm,  a  sudden  hush  like  that  of  awe  passed 
solemnly  through  the  room,  and  the  physician,  who  had 
been  set  to  watch  over  the  dying  gasps  of  the  poor  suf- 
ferer within,  appeared  on  the  threshold  of  the  bedroom 
door,  holding  up  his  hand  with  a  look  that  at  once  com- 
manded attention  and  awoke  the  most  painful  expectancy 
in  the  hearts  of  all  who  beheld  him  : 

*'  She  stirs  ;  she  moves  her  lips,"  he  announced,  and 
again  paused,  listening. 

Immediately  there  was  a  sound  from  the  dimness  be- 
hind him,  a  low  sound,  inarticulate  at  first,  but  presently 
growing  loud  enough  and  plain  enough  to  be  heard  in  the 
utmost  recesses  of  the  furthermost  room  on  that  floor. 

**  Hand  !  ring  !  "  was  the  burden  of  the  short  ejacula- 
tion they  heard.  "  Ring  !  hand  !  "  till  a  sudden  gasp  cut 
short  the  fearful  iteration,  and  all  was  silent  again. 

*'  Great  heavens  !  "  came  in  an  awe-struck  whisper  from 
Mr.  Ferris,  as  he  pressed  hastily  toward  the  place  from 
which  these  words  had  issued. 

But  the  physician  at  once  stopped  and  silenced  him. 


28  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  She  may  speak  again,"  he  suggested.     "Wait." 

But,  though  they  listened  breathlessly,  and  with  ever- 
growing suspense,  no  further  break  occurred  in  the  deep 
silence,  and  soon  the  doctor  announced  : 

'*  She  has  sunk  back  into  her  old  state  ;  she  may  rouse 
again,  and  she  may  not." 

As  though  released  from  some  painful  tension,  the 
coroner,  the  District  Attorney,  and  the  detective  all 
looked  up.  They  found  Miss  Dare  standing  by  the  open 
window,  with  her  face  turned  to  the  landscape,  and  Mr. 
Orcutt  gazing  at  her  with  an  expression  of  perplexity  that 
had  almost  the  appearance  of  dismay.  This  look  passed 
instantly  from  the  lawyer's  countenance  as  he  met  the 
eyes  of  his  friends,  but  Mr.  Byrd,  who  was  still  smarting 
under  a  sense  of  his  late  defeat,  could  not  but  wonder 
what  that  gentleman  had  seen  in  Miss  Dare,  during  the 
period  of  their  late  preoccupation,  to  call  up  such  an  ex- 
pression to  his  usually  keen  and  composed  face. 

The  clinch  of  her  white  hand  on  the  window-sill  'told 
nothing ;  but  when  in  a  few  moments  later  she  turned 
toward  them  again,  Mr.  Byrd  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  the 
last  lingering  remains  of  a  great  horror  fadmg  out  of  her 
eyes,  and  was  not  surprised  when  she  walked  up  to  Mr. 
Orcutt  and  said,  somewhat  hoarsely:  "  I  wish  to  go  home 
now.     This  place  is  a  terrible  one  to  be  in." 

Mr.  Orcutt,  who  was  only  too  glad  to  comply  with  her 
request,  again  offered  her  his  arm.  But  anxious  as  they 
evidently   were   to   quit   the   house,    they   were   not  al- 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  29 

lowed  to  do  so  without  experiencing  another  shock. 
Just  as  they  were  passing  the  door  of  the  room  where  the 
wounded  woman  lay,  the  physician  in  attendance  again 
appeared  before  them  with  that  silently  uplifted  hand. 

"  Hush  !  "  said  he  ;  "  she  stirs  again.  I  think  she  is 
going  to  speak." 

And  once  more  that  terrible  suspense  held  each  and 
every  one  enthralled  :  once  more  that  faint,  inarticulate 
murmur  eddied  through  the  house,  growing  gradually  into 
speech  that  this  time  took  a  form  that  curdled  the  blood 
of  the  listeners,  and  made  Mr.  Orcutt  and  the  young 
woman  at  his  side  drop  apart  from  each  other  as  though 
a  dividing  sword  had  passed  between  them. 

"  May  the  vengance  of  Heaven  light  upon  the  head  of 
him  who  has  brought  me  to  this  pass,"  were  the  words 
that  now  rose  ringing  and  clear  from  that  bed  of  death. 
"  May  the  fate  that  has  come  upon  me  be  visited  upon 
him,  measure  for  measure,  blow  for  blow,  death  for 
death." 

Strange  and  awe-inspiring  words,  that  drew  a  pall  over 
that  house  and  made  the  dullest  person  there  gasp  for 
breath.  In  the  silence  that  followed — a  silence  that 
could  be  felt — the  white  faces  of  lawyer  and  physician, 
coroner  and  detective,  turned  and  confronted  each  other. 
But  the  young  lady  who  lingered  in  their  midst  looked  at 
no  one,  turned  to  no  one.  Shuddering  and  white,  she 
stood  gazing  before  her  as  if  she  already  beheld  that  retrib- 
utive hand  descending  upon  the  head  of  the  guilty;  then, 


30  HAND   AND    RING. 

as  she  awoke  to  the  silence  of  those  around  her,  gave 
a  quick  start  and  flashed  forward  to  the  door  and  so  out 
into  the  street  before  Mr.  Orcutt  could  rouse  himself  suffi- 
ciently from  the  stupor  of  the  moment  to  follow  her. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       3 1 


III. 

THE    UNFINISHED    LETTER. 

Faith,  thou  hast  some  crotchets  in  thy  head  now. 

■ — Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

''"^  T    rOULD  there  be  any  indiscretion  in  my  asking 

V  V  who  that  young  lady  is  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Byrd 
of  Mr.  Ferris,  as,  after  ascertaining  that  the  "stricken  suf- 
ferer still  breathed,  they  stood  together  in  a  distant  corner 
of  the  dining-room. 

"  No,"  returned  the  other,  in  a  low  tone,  with  a  glance 
in  the  direction  of  the  lawyer,  who  was  just  re-entering 
the  house,  after  an  unsuccessful  effort  to  rejoin  the  person 
of  whom  they  were  speaking.  "She  is  a  Miss  Dare, 
a  young  lady  much  admired  in  this  town,  and  believed 

by  many  to  be  on  the  verge  of  matrimony  with "   He 

nodded  toward  Mr.  Orcutt,  and  discreetly  forbore  to 
finish  the  sentence. 

"  Ah  !  "  exclaimed  the  youthful  detective,  "  I  under- 
stand." And  he  cast  a  look  of  suddenly  awakened 
interest  at  the  man  who,  up  to  this  time,  he  had  merely 
regarded  as  a  more  than  usually  acute  criminal  lawyer. 

He  saw  a  small,  fair,  alert  man,  of  some  forty  years  of 
age,  of  a  good  carriage,  easy  manner,  and  refined  cast  of 
countenance,    overshadowed    now   by   a   secret    anxiety 


32  HAND   AND    RING. 

he  vainly  tried  to  conceal.  He  was  not  as  handsome 
as  Coroner  Tredwell,  nor  as  well  built  as  Mr,  Ferris,  yet 
he  was,  without  doubt,  the  most  striking-looking  man  in 
the  room,  and,  to  the  masculine  eyes  of  the  detective, 
seemed  at  first  glance  to  be  a  person  to  win  the  admira- 
tion, if  not  the  affection,  of  women. 

"  She  appears  to  take  a  great  interest  in  this  affair,"  he 
ventured  again,  looking  back  at  Mr.  Ferris. 

"  Yes,  that  is  woman's  way,"  replied  the  other,  lightly, 
without  any  hint  of  secret  feeling  or  curiosity.  "  Be- 
sides, she  is  an  inscrutable  girl,  always  surprising  you  by 
her  emotions — or  by  her  lack  of  them,"  he  added,  dis- 
missing the  topic  with  a  wave  of  his  hand. 

"Which  is  also  woman's  way,"  remarked  Mr.  Byrd,  re- 
tiring into  his  shell,  from  which  he  had  momentarily 
thrust  his  head. 

"  Does  it  not  strike  you  that  there  are  rather  more 
persons  present  than  are  necessary  for  the  purposes  of 
justice  ?  "  asked  the  lawyer,  now  coming  forward  with 
a  look  of  rather  pointed  significance  at  the  yoiithful 
stranger. 

Mr.  Ferris  at  once  spoke  up.  "  Mr.  Orcutt,"  said  he, 
"  let  me  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Byrd,  of  New  York,  He 
is  a  member  of  the  police  force,  and  has  been  rendering 
me  assistance  in  the  case  Just  adjourned." 

"  A  detective  !  "  repeated  the  other,  eying  the  young 
man  with  a  critical  eye.  "  It  is  a  pity,  sir,"  he  finally 
observed,  "  that  your  present  duties  will  not   allow  you 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       33 

to  render  service  to  justice  in  this  case  of  mys- 
terious assault."  And  with  a  bow  of  more  kindness  than 
Mr.  Byrd  had  reason  to  look  for,  he  went  slowly  back  to 
his  former  place  near  the  door  that  hid  the  suffering 
woman  from  sight. 

However  kindly  expressed,  Mr.  Byrd  felt  that  he  had 
received  his  dismissal,  and  was  about  to  withdraw,  when 
the  coroner,  who  had  been  absent  from  their  midst  for 
the  last  few  minutes,  approached  them  from  the  foot  of 
the  stairs,  and  tapped  the  detective  on  the  arm. 
"  I  want  you,"  said  he. 

Mr.  Byrd  bowed,  and  with  a  glance  toward  the  District 
Attorney,  who  returned  him  a  nod  of  approval,  went 
quickly  out  with  the  coroner. 

"  I  hear  you  are  a  detective,"  observed  the  latter,  tak- 
ing him  up  stairs  into  a  room  which  he  carefully  locked 
behind  them.  "  A  detective  on  the  spot  in  a  case  like 
this  is  valuable  ;  are  you  willing  to  assume  the  duties  of 
your  profession  and  act  for  justice  in  this  matter  ? " 

"  Dr.  Tredwell,"  returned  the  young  man,  instantly 
conscious  of  a  vague,  inward  shrinking  from  meddling 
further  in  the  affair,  "  I  am  not  at  present  master  of  my 
proceedings.  To  say  nothing  of  the  obedience  I  owe  my 
superiors  at  home,  I  am  just  now  engaged  in  assisting 
Mr.  Ferris  in  the  somewhat  pressing  matter  now  before 
the  court,  and  do  not  know  whether  it  would  meet  with 
his  approval  to  have  me  mix  up  matters  in  this  way." 

"  Mr.  Ferris  is  a  reasonable  man,"  said  the  coroner. 
"  If  his  consent  is  all  that  is  necessary " 


34  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  But  it  is  not,  sir.  I  must  have  orders  from  New- 
York." 

"  Oh,  as  to  that,  I  will  telegraph  at  once." 

But  still  the  young  man  hesitated,  lounging  in  his 
easy  way  against  the  table  by  which  he  had  taken  his 
stand. 

"  Dr.  Tredwell,"  he  suggested,  "  you  must  have  men 
in  this  town  amply  able  to  manage  such  a  matter  as  this. 
A  woman  struck  in  broad  daylight  and  a  man  already 
taken  up  on  suspicion  !  'T  is  simple,  surely  ;  intricate 
measures  are  not  wanted  here." 

"  So  you  still  think  it  is  the  tramp  that  struck  her  ?  " 
quoth  the  coroner,  a  trifle  baffled  by  the  other's  careless 
manner. 

"  I  still  think  it  was  not  the  man  who  sat  in  court  all 
the  morning  and  held  me  fascinated  by  his  eye." 

"Ah,  he  held  you  fascinated,  did  he?"  repeated  the 
other,  a  trifle  suspiciously. 

"  Well,  that  is,"  Mr.  Byrd  allowed,  with  the  least  per- 
ceptible loss  of  his  easy  bearing,  "  he  made  me  look  at 
him  more  than  once.  A  wandering  eye  always  attracts 
me,  and  his  wandered  constantly." 

"  Humph  !  and  you  are  sure  he  was  in  the  court  every 
minute  of  the  morning  ?  " 

"There  must  be  other  witnesses  who  can  testify  to  that," 
answered  the  detective,  with  the  perceptible  irritation  of 
one  weary  of  a  subject  which  he  feels  he  has  already 
amply  discussed. 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  35 

"Well,"  declared  the  other,  dropping  his  eyes  from  the 
young  man's  countenance  to  a  sheet  of  paper  he  was 
holding  in  his  hand,  "  whatever  role  this  humpback  has 
played  in  the  tragedy  now  occupying  us,  whether  he  be  a 
wizard,  a  secret  accomplice,  a  fool  who  cannot  keep  his 
own  secret,  or  a  traitor  who  cannot  preserve  that  of  his 
tools,  this  affair,  as  you  call  it,  is  not  likely  to  prove  the 
simple  matter  you  seem  to  consider  it.  The  victim,  if  not 
her  townsfolk,  knew  she  possessed  an  enemy,  and 
this  half-finished  letter  which  I  have  found  on  her  table, 
raises  the  question  whether  a  common  tramp,  with  no  mo- 
tive but  that  of  theft  or  brutal  revenge,  was  the  one  to 
meditate  the  fatal  blow,  even  if  he  were  the  one  to  deal 
it." 

A  perceptible  light  flickered  into  the  eyes  of  Mr.  Byrd, 
and  he  glanced  with  a  new  but  unmistakable  interest  at 
the  letter,  though  he  failed  to  put  out  his  hand  for  it,  even 
though  the  coroner  held  it  toward  him. 

"  Thank  you,"  said  he  ;  "but  if  I  do  not  take  the  case, 
it  would  be  better  for  me  not  to  meddle  any  further  with 
it." 

"  But  you  are  going  to  take  it,"  insisted  the  other,  with 
temper,  his  anxiety  to  secure  this  man's  services  increas- 
ing with  the  opposition  he  so  unaccountably  received. 
"  The  officers  at  the  detective  bureau  in  New  York  are 
not  going  to  send  another  man  up  here  when  there  is  al- 
ready one  on  the  spot.  And  a  man  from  New  York  I  am 
determined    to   have.     A  crime    like    this    shall    not   go 


36  HAND   AND    RING. 

unpunished  in  this  town,  whatever  it  may  do  in  a  great 
city  hke  yours.  We  don't  have  so  many  murder  cases 
that  we  need  to  stint  ourselves  in  the  luxury  of  profes- 
sional assistance." 

"But,"  protested  the  young  man,  still  determined  to 
hold  back,  whatever  arguments  might  be  employed  or 
inducements  offered  him,  "  how  do  you  know  I  am  the 
man  for  your  work  ?  We  have  many  sorts  and  kinds  of 
detectives  in  our  bureau.  Some  for  one  kind  of  busi- 
ness, some  for  another  ;  the  following  up  of  a  criminal  is 
not  mine." 

"What,  then,  is  yours?"  asked  the  coroner,  not  yield- 
ing a  jot  of  his  determination. 

The  detective  was  silent. 

"  Read  the  letter,"  persisted  Dr.  Tredwell,  shrewdly 
conscious  that  if  once  the  young  man's  professional 
instinct  was  aroused,  all  the  puerile  objections  which 
influenced  him  would  immediately  vanish. 

There  was  no  resisting  that  air  of  command.  Taking 
the  letter  in  his  hand,  the  young  man  read  : 

"Dear  Emily: — I  don't  know  why  I  sit  down  to  write  to  you 
to-day.  I  have  plenty  to  do,  and  morning  is  no  time  for  indulging 
in  sentimentalities  ;  but  I  feel  strangely  lonely  and  strangely  anxious. 
Nothing  goes  just  to  my  mind,  and  somehow  the  many  causes  for 
secret  fear  which  I  have  always  had,  assume  an  undue  prominence  in 
my  mind.  It  is  always  so  when  I  am  not  quite  well.  In  vain  I 
reason  with  myself,  saying  that  respectable  people  do  not  lightly 
enter  into  crime.  But  there  are  so  many  to  whom  my  death  would 
be  more  than  welcome,  that  I  constantly  see  myself  in  the  act  of 
being "  , 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       37 

"  Struck,  shot,  murdered,"  suggested  Dr.  Tredwell, 
perceiving  the  young  man's  eye  lingering  over  the  broken 
sentence. 

"  The  words  are  not  there,"  remonstrated  Mr.  Byrd  ; 
but  the  tone  of  his  voice  showed  that  his  professional 
complacency  had  been  disturbed  at  last. 

The  other  did  not  answer,  but  waited  with  the  wisdom 
of  the  trapper  who  sees  the  quarry  nosing  round  the 
toils. 

"There  is  evidently  some  family  mystery,"  the  young 
man  continued,  glancing  again  at  the  letter.  "  But,"  he 
remarked,  "  Mr.  Orcutt  is  a  good  friend  of  hers,  and  can 
probably  tell  us  what  it  all  means." 

"Very  likely,"  the  other  admitted,  "if  we  choose  to 
ask  him." 

Quick  as  lightning  the  young  man's  glance  flashed  to 
the  coroner's  face. 

"  You  would  rather  not  put  the  question  to  him  ? "  he 
inquired. 

"  No.  As  he  is  the  lawyer  who,  in  all  probability,  will 
be  employed  by  the  criminal  in  this  case,  I  am  sure  he 
would  rather  not  be  mixed  up  in  any  preliminary  investi- 
gation of  the  affair." 

The  young  man's  eye  did  not  waver.  He  appeared  to 
take  a  secret  resolve. 

"Has  it  not  struck  you,"  he  insinuated,  "that  Mr. 
Orcutt  might  have  other  reasons  for  not  wishing  to  give 
any  expression  of  opinion  in  regard  to  it  ? " 


38  HAND   AND    RING. 

The  surprise  in  the  coroner's  eye  was  his  best  answer. 
"  No,"  he  rejoined. 

Mr.  Byrd  at  once  resumed  all  his  old  nonchalance. 
"  The  young  lady  who  was  here  appeared  to  show  such 
agitated  interest  in  this  horrible  crime,  I  thought  that,  in 
kindness  to  her,  he  might  wish  to  keep  out  of  the  affair  as 
much  as  possible." 

"  Miss  Dare  ?  Bless  your  heart,  she  would  not  restrict 
him  in  any  way.  Her  interest  in  the  matter  is  purely  one 
of  curiosity.  It  has  been  carried,  perhaps,  to  a  some- 
what unusual  length  for  a  woman  of  her  position  and 
breeding.  But  that  is  all,  I  assure  you.  J\Iiss  Dare's 
eccentricities  are  well  known  in  this  town." 

"Then  the  diamond  ring  was  really  hers  ?  "  Mr.  Byrd 
was  about  to  inquire,  but  stopped  ;  something  in  his 
memory  of  this  beautiful  woman  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  disturb  the  confidence  of  the  coroner  in  her  behalf, 
at  least  while  his  own  doubts  were  so  vague  and  shadowy. 
The  coroner,  however,  observed  the  young  detective's 
hesitation,  and  smiled. 

"Are  you  thinking  of  Miss  Dare  as  having  any  thing  to 
do  with  this  shocking  affair  ?  "  he  asked. 

Mr.  Byrd  shook  his  head,  but  could  not  hide  the  flush 
that  stole  up  over  his  forehead. 

The  coroner  actually  laughed,  a  low,  soft,  decorous 
laugh,  but  none  the  less  one  of  decided  amusement. 
"Your  line  is  not  in  the  direction  of  spotting  criminals, 
I  must  allow,"  said  he.     "Why,  Miss  Dare  is  not  only  as 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  39 

irreproachable  a  young  lady  as  we  have  in  this  town,  but 
she  is  a  perfect  stranger  to  this  woman  and  all  her  con- 
cerns.    I  doubt  if  she  even  knew  her  name  till  to-day." 

A  laugh  is  often  more  potent  than  argument.  The 
face  of  the  detective  lighted  up,  and  he  looked  very 
manly  and  very  handsome  as  he  returned  the  letter  to 
the  coroner,  saying,  with  a  sweep  of  his  hand  as  if  he 
tossed  an  unworthy  doubt  away  forever  : 

"  Well,  I  do  not  wish  to  appear  obstinate.  If  this 
woman  dies,  and  the  inquest  fails  to  reveal  who  her 
assailant  is,  I  will  apply  to  New  York  for  leave  to  work 
'up  the  case  ;  that  is,  if  you  continue  to  desire  my  assist- 
ance.    Meanwhile " 

**  You  will  keep  your  eyes  open,"  intimated  the  coroner, 
taking  back  the  letter  and  putting  it  carefully  away  in 
his  breast-pocket.     "And  now,  mum  !  " 

Mr.  Byrd  bowed,  and  they  went  together  down  the 
stairs. 

It  was  by  this  time  made  certain  that  the  dying  woman 
was  destined  to  linger  on  for  some  hours.  She  was  com- 
pletely unconscious,  and  her  breath  barely  lifted  the 
clothes  that  lay  over  the  slowly  laboring  breast  ;  but  such 
vitality  as  there  was  held  its  own  with  scarcely  percepti- 
ble change,  and  the  doctor  thought  it  might  be  midnight 
before  the  solemn  struggle  would  end.  "  In  the  mean- 
time, expect  nothing,"  he  exclaimed  ;  "she  has  said  her 
last  word.  What  remains  will  be  a  mere  sinking  into  the 
eternal  sleep." 


40 


HAND   AND   RING. 


This  being  so,  Mr.  Orcutt  and  Mr.  Ferris  decided  to 
leave.  Mr.  Byrd  saw  them  safely  out,  and  proceeded  to 
take  one  or  two  private  observations  of  his  own.  They 
consisted  mostly  in  noting  the  precise  position  of  the 
various  doors  in  reference  to  the  hearth  where  the  stick 
was  picked  up,  and  the  clock  where  the  victim  was 
attacked.  Or,  so  the  coroner  gathered  from  the  direction 
which  Mr.  Byrd's  eye  took  in  its  travels  over  the  scene  of 
action,  and  the  diagram  which  he  hastily  drew  on  the 
back  of  an  envelope.  The  table  was  noticed,  too,  and  an 
inventory  of  its  articles  taken,  after  which  he  opened  the 
side-door  and  looked  carefully  out  into  the  lane. 

To  observe  him  now  with  his  quick  eye  flashing  from 
spot  to  spot,  his  head  lifted,  and  a  visible  air  of  determi- 
nation infused  through  his  whole  bearing,  you  would 
scarcely  recognize  the  easy,  gracefully  indolent  youth 
who,  but  a  little  while  before,  lounged  against  the  tables 
and  chairs,  and  met  the  most  penetrating  eye  with  the 
sleepy  gaze  of  a  totally  uninterested  man.  Dr.  Tredwell, 
alert  to  the  change,  tapped  the  letter  in  his  pocket  com- 
placently. "I  have  roused  up  a  weasel,"  he  mentally 
decided,  and  congratulated  himself  accordingly. 

It  was  two  o'clock  when  Mr.  Byrd  went  forth  to  join 
Mr.  Ferris  in  the  court-room.  As  he  stepped  from  the 
door,  he  encountered,  to  all  appearance,  just  the  same 
crowd  that  had  encumbered  its  entrance  a  half  hour 
before.  Even  the  old  crone  had  not  moved  from  her 
former  position,   and  seeing   him,   fairly  pounced    upon 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       4 1 

him  with  question  after  question,  all  of  which  he  parried 
with  a  nonchalant  dexterity  that  drew  shout  after  shout 
from  those  who  stood  by,  and,  finally,  as  he  thought,  won 
him  the  victory,  for,  with  an  angry  shake  of  the  head,  she 
ceased  1^  importunities,  and  presently  let  him  pass.  He 
hastened  to  improve  the  chance  to  gain  for  himself  the 
refuge  of  the  streets  ;  and,  having  done  this,  stood  for  an 
instant  parleying  with  a  trembling  young  girl,  whose  real 
distress  and  anxiety  seemed  to  merit  some  attention. 
Fatal  delay.  In  that  instant  the  old  woman  had  got  in 
front  of  him,  and  when  he  arrived  at  the  head  of  the 
street  he  found  her  there. 

"  Now,"  said  she,  with  full-blown  triumph  in  her 
venomous  eyes,  "  perhaps  you  will  tell  me  something  ! 
You  think  I  am  a  mumbling  old  woman  who  don't  know 
what  she  is  bothering  herself  about.  But  I  tell  you  I  've 
not  kept  my  eyes  and  ears  open  for  seventy-five  years  in 
this  wicked  world  without  knowing  a  bit  of  the  devil's 
own  work  when  I  see  it."  Here  her  face  grew  quite 
hideous,  and  her  eyes  gleamed  with  an  aspect  of  gloating 
over  the  evil  she  alluded  to,  that  quite  sickened  the  young 
man,  accustomed  though  he  was  to  the  worst  phases  of 
moral  depravity.  Leaning  forward,  she  peered  inquir- 
ingly in  his  face.  "  What  has  she  to  do  with  it  ?  "  she 
suddenly  asked,  emphasizing  the  pronoun  with  an  ex- 
pressive leer. 

**  She  ?  "  he  repeated,  starting  back. 

"  Yes,  she  ;  the  pretty  young  lady,  the  pert  and  haughty 


42  HAND   AND    RING. 

Miss  Dare,  that  had  but  to  speak  to  make  the  whole 
crowd  stand  back.  What  had  she  to  do  with  it,  I  say  ? 
Something,  or  she  would  n't  be  here  !  " 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  are  talking  about,"  he  replied, 
conscious  of  a  strange  and  unaccountable  dismi^  at  thus 
hearing  his  own  passing  doubt  put  into  words  by  this  vile 
and  repellent  being.  "  Miss  Dare  is  a  stranger.  She  has 
nothing  to  do  either  with  this  affair  or  the  poor  woman 
who  has  suffered  by  it.  Her  interest  is  purely  one  of 
sympathy." 

"  Hi  !  and  you  call  yourself  a  smart  one,  I  dare  say." 
And  the  old  creature  ironically  chuckled.  "  Well,  well, 
well,  what  fools  men  are  !  They  see  a  pretty  face,  and 
blind  themselves  to  what  is  written  on  it  as  plain  as  black 
writing  on  a  white  wall.  They  call  it  sympathy,  and  never 
stop  to  ask  why  she,  of  all  the  soft-hearted  gals  in  the 
town,  should  be  the  only  one  to  burst  into  that  house  like 
an  avenging  spirit  !  But  it  's  all  right,"  she  went  on,  in 
a  bitterly  satirical  tone.  "  A  crime  like  this  can't  be 
covered  up,  however  much  you  may  try  ;  and  sooner  or 
later  we  will  all  know  whether  this  young  lady  has  had 
any  thing  to  do  with  Mrs.  Clemmens'  murder  or  not." 

"  Stop  !  "  cried  Mr.  Byrd,  struck  in  spite  of  himself  by 
the  look  of  meaning  with  which  she  said  these  last  words. 

Do  you  know  any  thing  against  Miss  Dare  which  other 
folks  do  not  ?  If  you  do,  speak,  and  let  me  hear  at  once 
what  it  is.  But — "  he  felt  very  angry,  though  he  could 
not  for  the  moment  tell  why — "  if  you  are  only  talking  to 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO,  43 

gratify  your  spite,  and  have  nothing  to  tell  me  except  the 
fact  that  Miss  Dare  appeared  shocked  and  anxious 
when  she  came  from  the  widow's  house  just  now,  look  out 
what  use  you  make  of  hei;  name,  or  you  will  get  yourself 
into  trouble.  Mr.  Orcutt  and  Mr.  Ferris  are  not  men  to 
let  you  go  babbling  round  town  about  a  young  lady-  of 
estimable  character."  And  he  tightened  the  grip  he  had 
taken  upon  her  arm  and  looked  at  her  threateningly. 

The  effect  was  instantaneous.  Slipping  from  his  grasp, 
she  gazed  at  him  with  a  sinister  expression  and  edged 
slowly  away. 

"  I  know  any  thing  ?  "  she  repeated.  "  What  should  I 
know  ?  I  only  say  the  young  lady's  face'  tells  a  very 
strange  story.  If  you  are  too  dull  or  too  obstinate  to  read 
it,  it  's  nothing  to  me."  And  with  another  leer  and 
a  quick  look  up  and  down  the  street,  as  if  she  half  feared 
to  encounter  one  or  both  of  the  two  lawyers  whose  names 
he  had  mentioned,  she  marched  quickly  away,  wagging 
her  head  and  looking  back  as  she  went,  as  much  as  to 
say  :  "  You  have  hushed  me  up  for  this  time,  young  man, 
but  don't  congratulate  yourself  too  much.  I  have  still  a 
tongue  in  my  head,  and  the  day  may  come  when  I 
can  use  it  without  any  fear  of  being  stopped  by  you." 

Mr.  Byrd,  who  was  not  very  well  pleased  with  himself 
or  the  way  he  had  managed  this  interview,  watched  her 
till  she  was  out  of  sight,  and  then  turned  thoughtfully  tow- 
ard the  court-house.  The  fact  was,  he  felt  both  agitat- 
ed and  confused.       In  the    first    place,    he  was   discon- 


44  HAND   AND    RING. 

certed  at  discovering  the  extent  of  the  impression  that 
had  evidently  been  made  upon  him  by  the  beauty  of  Miss 
Dare,  since  nothing  short  of  a  deep,  unconscious  admira- 
tion for  her  personal  attributes,  and  a  strong  and  secret 
dread  of  having  his  lately  acquired  confidence  in  her 
again  disturbed,  could  have  led  him  to  treat  the  insinua- 
tions of  this  babbling  old  wretch  in  such  a  cavalier  man- 
ner. Any  other  detective  would  have  seized  with 
avidity  upon  the  opportunity  of  hearing  what  she  had  to 
say  on  such  a  subject,  and  would  not  only  have  cajoled 
her  into  confidence,  but  encouraged  her  to  talk  until  she 
had  given  utterance  to  all  that  was  on  her  mind.  But  in 
the  stress  of  a  feeling  to  which  he  was  not  anxious  to 
give  a  name,  he  had  forgotten  that  he  was  a  detective, 
and  remembered  only  that  he  was  a  man  ;  and  the  con- 
sequence was  that  he  had  frightened  the  old  creature, 
and  cut  short  words  that  it  was  possibly  his  business 
to  hear.  In  the  second  place,  he  felt  himself  in  a  quan- 
dary as  regarded  Miss  Dare.  If,  as  was  more  than  pos- 
sible, she  was  really  the  innocent  woman  the  coroner  con- 
sidered her,  and  the  insinuations,  if  not  threats,  to  which 
he  had  been  listening  were  simply  the  result  of  a 
wicked  old  woman's  privately  nurtured  hatred,  how  could 
he  reconcile  it  to  his  duty  as  a  man,  or  even  as  a  detect- 
ive, to  let  the  day  pass  without  warning  her,  or  the  emi- 
nent lawyer  who  honored  her  with  his  regard,  of  the 
danger  in  which  she  stood  from  this  creature's  venomous 
tongue. 


THE   GENTLEMAN  FROM   TOLEDO.  45 

As  he  sat  in  court  that  afternoon,  with  his  eye  upon 
Mr.  Orcutt,  beneath  whose  ordinary  aspect  of  quiet,  sar- 
castic attention  he  thought  he  could  detect  the  secret 
workings  of  a  deep,  personal  perplexity,  if  not  of  actual 
alarm,  he  asked  himself  what  he  would  wish  done  if 
he  were  that  man,  and  a  scandal  of  a  debasing  char- 
acter threatened  the  peace  of  one  allied  to  him  by  the 
most  endearing  ties.  "Would  I  wish  to  be  informed  of 
it  ? "  he  queried.  "  I  most  certainly  should,"  was  his 
inward  reply. 

And  so  it  was  that,  after  the  adjournment  of  court,  he 
approached  Mr.  Orcutt,  and  leading  him  respectfully 
aside,  said,  with  visible  reluctance  : 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  a  fact  has  come  to  my 
knowledge  to-day  with  which  I  think  you  ought  to  be 
made  acquainted.  It  is  in  reference  to  the  young  lady 
who  was  with  us  at  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  this  morn- 
ing. Did  you  know,  sir,  that  she  had  an  enemy  in  this 
town  ? " 

Mr.  Orcutt,  whose  thoughts  had  been  very  much  with 
that  young  lady  since  she  left  him  so  unceremoniously  a 
few  hours  before,  started  and  looked  at  Mr.  Byrd  with 
surprise  which  was  not  without  its  element  of  distrust. 

"  An  enemy  ?  "  he  repeated.  "  An  enemy .?  What  do 
you  mean  ?" 

"What  I  say,  Mr.  Orcutt.  As  I  came  out  of  Mrs. 
Clemmens'  house  this  afternoon,  an  old  hag  whose  name 
I  do  not  know,  but  whom  you  will  probably  have  no  dif- 


46  HAND   AND   RING. 

ficulty  in  recognizing,  seized  me  by  the  arm  and  made  me 
the  recipient  of  insinuations  and  threats  against  Miss 
Dare,  which,  however  foolish  and  unfounded,  betrayed  an 
animosity  and  a  desire  to  injure  her  that  is  worthy  your 
attention." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  returned  Mr,  Orcutt,  with  in- 
creased astonishment  and  a  visible  constraint,  "  but  I  do 
not  understand  you.  What  insinuations  or  threats  could 
this  woman  have  to  make  against  a  young  lady  of  Miss 
Dare's  position  and  character  ? " 

"  It  is  difficult  for  me  to  tell  you,"  acknowledged  Mr. 
Byrd  ;  "but  the  vicious  old  creature  presumed  to  say  that 
Miss  Dare  must  have  had  a  special  and  secret  interest  in 
this  murder,  or  she  would  not  have  gone  as  she  did  to  that 
house.  Of  course,"  pursued  the  detective,  discreetly 
dropping  his  eyes  from  the  lawyer's  face,  "  I  did  what  I 
could  to  show  her  the  folly  of  her  suspicions,  and  tried  to 
make  her  see  the  trouble  she  would  bring  upon  herself  if 
she  persisted  in  expressing  them  ;  but  I  fear  I  only  suc- 
ceeded in  quieting  her  for  the  moment,  and  that  she  will 
soon  be  attacking  others  with  this  foolish  story." 

Mr.  Orcutt  who,  whatever  his  own  doubts  or  appre- 
hensions, could  not  fail  to  be  totally  unprepared  for  a 
communication  of  this  kind,  gave  utterance  to  a  fierce 
and  bitter  exclamation,  and  fixed  upon  the  detective  his 
keen  and  piercing  eye. 

"  Tell  me  just  what  she  said,"  he  demanded. 

"  I  will  try  to  do  so,"  returned  Mr.  Byrd.     And  calling 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  47 

to  his  aid  a  very  excellent  memory,  he  gave  a  verbatim 
account  of  the  conversation  that  had  passed  between  him 
and  the  old  woman.  Mr.  Orcutt  listened,  as  he  always 
did,  without  interruption  or  outward  demonstration  ;  but 
when  the  recital  was  over  and  Mr.  Byrd  ventured  to  look 
at  him  once  more,  he  noticed  that  he  was  very  pale  and 
greatly  changed  in  expression.  Being  himself  in  a  posi- 
tion to  understand  somewhat  of  the  other's  emotion,  he 
regained  by  an  effort  the  air  of  polite  nonchalance  that 
became  him  so  well,  and  quickly  suggested  :  "  Miss  Dare 
will,  of  course,  be  able  to  explain  herself." 

The  lawyer  flashed  upon  him  a  quick  glance. 

"  I  hope  you  have  no  doubts  on  the  subject,"  he  said  ; 
then,  as  the  detective's  eye  fell  a  trifle  before  his,  paused 
and  looked  at  him  with  the  self-possession  gained  in  fif- 
teen years  of  practice  in  the  criminal  courts,  and  said  : 
"  I  am  Miss  Dare's  best  friend.  I  know  her  well,  and 
can  truly  say  that  not  only  is  her  character  above  re- 
proach, but  that  I  am  acquainted  with  no  circumstances 
that  could  in  any  way  connect  her  with  this  crime.  Never- 
theless, the  incidents  of  the  day  have  been  such  as  to 
make  it  desirable  for  her  to  explain  herself,  and  this,  as 
you  say,  she  will  probably  have  no  difficulty  in  doing.  If 
you  will,  therefore,  wait  till  to-morrow  before  taking  any 
one  else  into  your  confidence,  I  promise  you  to  see  Miss 
Dare  myself,  and,  from  her  own  lips,  learn  the  cause  of 
her  peculiar  interest  in  this  affair.  Meanwhile,  let  me 
request  you  to  put  a  curb  upon  your  imagination,  and 


48  HAND  AND   RING. 

not  allow  it  to  soar  too  high  into  the  regions  of  idle  spec- 
ulation." 

And  he  held  out  his  hand  to  the  detective  with  a  smile 
whose  vain  attempt  at  unconcern  affected  Mr.  Byrd  more 
than  a  violent  outbreak  would  have  done.  It  betrayed 
so  unmistakably  that  his  own  secret  doubts  were  not 
without  an  echo  in  the  breast  of  this  eminent  lawyer. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       49 


IV. 

IMOGENE. 
You  are  a  riddle,  solve  you  \N'ho  can. — Knowles. 

MR.  ORCUTT  was  a  man  who  for  many  years  had 
turned  a  deaf  ear  and  a  cold  eye  to  the  various 
attractions  and  beguilements  of  woman.  Either  from 
natural  coldness  of  disposition,  or  for  some  other  latent 
cause,  traceable,  perhaps,  to  some  fact  in  his  past  history, 
and  not  to  be  inquired  into  by  gossiping  neighbors  and 
so-called  friends,  he  had  resisted,  even  to  the  point  of 
disdain,  both  the  blandishments  of  acknowledged  belles, 
and  the  more  timid  but  no  less  pleasing  charms  of  the 
shy  country  misses  that  he  met  upon  his  travels. 

But  one  day  all  this  was  changed.  Imogene  Dare 
entered  his  home,  awakening  a  light  in  the  dim  old  place 
that  melted  his  heart  and  made  a  man  out  of  what  was 
usually  considered  a  well-ordered  machine. 

She  had  been  a  foundling.  Yes,  this  beautiful,  disdain- 
ful, almost  commanding  woman,  had  in  the  beginning 
been  that  most  unfortunate  of  beings — a  child  without  a 
name.  But  though  this  fact  may  have  influenced  the 
course  of  her  early  days,  it  gradually  disappeared  from 
notice  as  she  grew  up  and  developed,  till  in  Sibley,  at 
least,  it  became  wellnigh  a  fact  forgotten.      Her  beauty, 


50  HAND   AND    RING. 

as  well  as  the  imposing  traits  of  her  character,  was  the 
cause.  There  are  some  persons  so  gifted  with  natural 
force  that,  once  brought  in  contact  with  them,  you  forget 
their  antecedents,  and,  indeed,  every  thing  but  themselves. 
Either  their  beauty  overawes  you  or  they,  by  conversa- 
tion or  bearing,  so  completely  satisfy  you  of  their  right 
to  your  respect,  that  indifference  takes  the  place  of  curi- 
osity, and  you  yield  your  regard  as  if  you  have  already 
yielded  your  admiration,  without  question  and  without 
stint. 

The  early  years  of  her  life  were  passed  in  the  house  of 
a  poor  widow,  to  whom  the  appearance  of  this  child  on 
her  door-step  one  fine  day  had  been  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  a  veritable  godsend.  First,  because  she  was  herself 
alone  in  the  world,  and  needed  the  mingled  companion- 
ship and  care  which  a  little  one  invariably  gives  ;  and, 
secondly,  because  Imogene,  from  the  very  first,  had  been 
a  noticeable  child,  who  early  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  neighbors,  and  led  to  many  a  substantial  evidence  of 
favor  from  them,  as  well  as  from  the  strangers  who 
passed  their  gate  or  frequented  their  church.  Insensibly 
to  herself,  and  without  help  of  circumstances  or  rearing, 
the  girl  was  a  magnet  toward  which  all  good  things  in- 
sensibly tended  ;  and  the  widow  saw  this,  and,  while 
reaping  the  reward,  stinted  neither  her  affection  nor  her 
gratitude. 

When  Imogene  was  eleven,  this  protector  of  her  infancy 
died.     But   another  home  instantly  offered.     A  wealthy 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.        5 1 

couple  of  much  kindness,  if  little  culture,  adopted  her  as 
their  child,  and  gave  her  every  benefit  in  life  save  educa- 
tion. This  never  having  possessed  themselves,  they 
openly  undervalued.  But  she  was  not  to  be  kept  down 
by  the  force  of  any  circumstances,  whether  favorable  or 
otherwise.  All  the  graces  of  manner  and  refinements  of 
thought  which  properly  belong  to  the  station  she  had  now 
attained,  but  which,  in  the  long  struggle  after  wealth,  had 
escaped  the  honest  couple  that  befriended  her,  became 
by  degrees  her  own,  tempering  without  destroying  her  in- 
dividuality, any  more  than  the  new  life  of  restraint  that 
now  governed  her  physical  powers,  was  able  to  weaken  or 
subdue  that  rare  and  splendid  physique  which  had  been 
her  fairest  birthright. 

In  the  lap  of  luxury,  therefore,  and  in  full  possession 
of  means  to  come  and  go  and  conform  herself  to  the 
genteel  world  and  its  fashions,  she  passed  the  next  four 
years  ;  but  scarcely  had  she  attained  the  age  of  fifteen, 
when  bankruptcy,  followed  by  death,  again  robbed  her  of 
her  home  and  set  her  once  more  adrift  upon  the  world. 

This  time  she  looked  to  no  one  for  assistance.  Refus-  ' 
ing  all  offers,  many  of  them  those  of  honorable  marriage, 
she  sought  for  work,  and  after  a  short  delay  found  it  in 
the  household  of  Mr.  Orcutt.  The  aged  sister  who 
governed  his  home  and  attended  to  all  its  domestic 
details,  hired  her  as  a  sort  of  assistant,  rightly  judging 
that  the  able  young  body  and  the  alert  hand  would  bring 
into  the  household  economy  just  that  life  and  interest 


52  HAND   AND    RING. 

which  her  own  failing  strength  had  now  for  some  time  re- 
fused to  supply. 

That  the  girl  was  a  beauty  and  something  more,  who 
could  not  from  the  nature  of  things  be  kept  in  that  sub- 
ordinate position,  she  either  failed  to  see,  or,  seeing,  was 
pleased  to  disregard.  She  never  sought  to  impose  re- 
straint upon  the  girl  any  more  than  she  did  upon  her 
brother,  when  in  the  course  of  events  she  saw  that  his 
eye  was  at  last  attracted  and  his  imagination  fired  by  the 
noble  specimen  of  girlhood  that  made  its  daily  appear- 
ance at  his  own  board. 

That  she  had  introduced  a  dangerous  element  into  that 
quiet  home,  that  ere  long  would  devastate  its  sacred  pre- 
cincts, and  endanger,  if  not  destroy,  its  safety  and  honor, 
she  had  no  reason  to  suspect.  What  was  there  in  youth, 
beauty,  and  womanly  power  that  one  should  shrink  from 
their  embodiment  and  tremble  as  if  an  evil  instead  of  a 
good  had  entered  that  hitherto  undisturbed  household  ? 
Nothing,  if  they  had  been  all.  But  alas  for  her,  and  alas 
for  him — they  were  not  all!  Mixed  with,  the  youth, 
beauty,  and  power  was  a  something  else  not  to  be  so 
readily  understood — a  something,  too,  which,  without 
oflfering  explanation  to  the  fascinated  mind  that  studied 
her,  made  the  beauty  unique,  the  youth  a  charm,  and  the 
power  a  controlling  force.  She  was  not  to  be  sounded. 
Going  and  coming,  smiling  and  frowning,  in  movement  or 
at  rest,  she  was  always  a  mystery  ;  the  depths  of  her  be- 
ing remaining  still  in  hiding,  however  calmly  she  spoke  or 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  53 

however  graciously  she  turned  upon  you  the  light  of  her 
deep  gray  eyes. 

Mr.  Orcutt  loved  her.  From  the  first  vision  he  had  of 
her  face  and  form  dominating  according  to  their  nature 
at  his  board  and  fireside,  he  had  given  up  his  will  into  her 
unconscious  keeping.  She  was  so  precisely  what  all 
other  women  he  had  known  were  not.  At  first  so  distant, 
so  self-contained,  so  unapproachable  in  her  pride  ;  then 
as  her  passion  grew  for  books,  so  teachable,  so  industri- 
ous, so  willing  to  listen  to  his  explanations  and  argu- 
ments ;  and  lastly 

But  that  did  not  come  at  once.  A  long  struggle  took 
place  between  those  hours  when  he  used  to  encourage 
her  to  come  into  his  study' and  sit  at  his  side,  and  read 
from  his  books,  and  the  more  dangerous  time  still,  when 
he  followed  her  into  the  drawing-room  and  sat  at  her  side, 
and  sought  to  read,  not  from  books,  but  from  her  eyes, 
the  story  of  his  own  future  fate. 

For,  powerful  as  was  his  passion  and  deeply  as  his 
heart  had  been  touched,  he  did  not  yield  to  the  thought 
of  marriage  which  such  a  passion  involves,  without  a  con- 
flict. He  would  make  her  his  child,  the  heiress  of  his 
wealth,  and  the  support  of  his  old  age  ;  this  was  his  first 
resolve.  But  it  did  not  last  ;  the  first  sight  he  had  of  her 
on  her  return  from  a  visit  to  Buffalo,  which  he  had  in- 
sisted upon  her  making  during  the  time  of  his  greatest 
mental  conflict,  had  assured  him  that  this  could  never 
be  ;  that  he  must  be  husband  and  she  wife,  or  else  their 


54  '  HAND   AND    RING. 

relations  must  entirely  cease.  Perhaps  the  look  with 
which  she  met  him  had  something  to  do  with  this.  It 
was  such  a  blushing,  humble — yes,  for  her,  really  humble 
and  beautiful  —  look.  He  could  not  withstand  it. 
Though  no  one  could  have  detected  it  in  his  manner, 
he  really  succumbed  in  that  hour.  Doubt  and  hesitation 
flew  to  the  winds,  and  to  make  her  his  own  became  the 
sole  aim  and  object  of  his  life. 

He  did  not,  however,  betray  his  purpose  at  once. 
Neighbors  and  friends  might  and  did  suspect  the  st-ate  of 
his  feelings,  but  to  her  he  was  silent.  That  vague  some- 
thing which  marked  her  off  from  the  rest  of  her  sex, 
seemed  to  have  deepened  in  her  temporary  sojourn  from 
his  side,  and  whatever  it  meant  of  good  or  of  ill,  it  taught 
him  at  least  to  be  wary.  At  last,  was  it  with  premedita- 
tion or  was  it  in  some  moment  of  uncontrollable  impulse, 
he  spoke  ;  not  with  definite  pleading,  or  even  with  any 
very  clear  intimation  that  he  desired  some  day  to  make 
her  his  wife,  but  in  a  way  that  sufficed  to  tear  the  veil 
from  their  previous  intercourse  and  let  her  catch  a 
glimpse,  if  no  more,  of  his  heart,  and  its  devouring  pas- 
sion. 

He  was  absolutely  startled  at  the  result.  She  avowed 
that  she  had  never  thought  of  his  possessing  such  a  re- 
gard for  her  ;  and  for  two  days  shut  herself  up  in  her 
room  and  refused  to  see  either  him  or  his  sister.  Then 
she  came  down,  blooming  like  a  rose,  but  more  distant, 
more  quiet,  and  more    inscrutable    than  ever.     Pride,  if 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  55 

pride  she  felt,  was  subdued  under  a  general  aspect  of 
womanly  dignity  that  for  a  time  held  all  further  avowals 
in  check,  and  made  all  intercourse  between  them  at  once 
potent  in  its  attraction  and  painful  in  its  restraint. 

"She  is  waiting  for  a  distinct  offer  of  marriage,"  he 
decided. 

And  thus  matters  stood,  notwithstanding  the  general 
opinion  of  their  friends,  when  the  terrible  event  record- 
ed in  the  foregoing  chapters  of  this  story  brought  her  in 
a  new  light  before  his  eyes,  and  raised  a  question,  shock- 
ing as  it  was  unexpected,  as  to  whether  this  young  girl, 
immured  as  he  had  believed  her  to  be  in  his  own  home, 
had  by  some  unknown  and  inexplicable  means  run  upon 
the  secret  involving,  if  not  explaining,  the  mystery  of  this 
dreadful  and  daring  crime. 

Such  an  idea  was  certainly  a  preposterous  one  to  enter- 
tain. He  neither  could  nor  would  believe  she  knew  more 
of  this  matter  than  any  other  disinterested  person  in  town, 
and  yet  there  had  certainly  been  something  in  her  bearing 
upon  the  scene  of  tragedy,  that  suggested  a  personal  in- 
terest in  the  affair  ;  nor  could  he  deny  that  he  himself 
had  been  struck  by  the  incongruity  of  her  behavior  long 
before  it  attracted  the  attention  of  others. 

But  then  he  had  opportunities  for  judging  of  her  con- 
duct which  others  did  not  have.  He  not  only  had  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  ring  to  which  she  had  so  public- 
ly laid  claim  was  not  her  own,  but  he  had  observed  how, 
at  the  moment  the  dying  woman  had  made  that  tell-tale  ex- 


56  HAND   AND    RING. 

clamation  of  "  Ring  and  Hand !  "  Miss  Dare  had  looked 
down  at  the  jewel  she  had  thus  appropriated,  with  a 
quick  horror  and  alarm  that  seemed  to  denote  she  had 
some  knowledge  of  its  owner,  or  some  suspicion,  at  least, 
as  to  whose  hand  had  worn  it  before  she  placed  it  upon 
her  own. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  a  matter  of  wonder  that  he  was 
visibly  affected  at  finding  her  conduct  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  others,  and  one  of  those  a  detective,  or  that 
the  walk  home  after  his  interview  with  Mr.  Byrd  should 
have  been  fraught  with  a  dread  to  which  he  scarcely 
dared  to  give  a  name. 

The  sight  of  Miss  Dare  coming  down  the  path  as  he 
reached  his  own  gate  did  not  tend  to  greatly  allay  his  ap- 
prehensions, particularly  as  he  observed  she  was  dressed 
in  travelling  costume,  and  carried  a  small  satchel  on  her 
arm. 

"  Imogene,"  he  cried,  as  she  reached  him,  "what  is  the 
meaning  of  this  ?     Where  are  you  going  ?" 

Her  face,  which  wore  a  wholly  unnatural  and  strained 
expression,  turned  slowly  toward  his. 
i      "  I  am  going  to  Buffalo,"  she  said. 

"  To  Buffalo  ? " 

"Yes." 

This  was  alarming,  surely.  She  was  going  to  leave  the 
town — leave  it  suddenly,  without  excuse  or  explanation  ! 

Looking  at  her  with  eyes  which,  for  all  their  intense 
inquiry,  conveyed  but  little  of  the  serious  emotions  that 
were  agitating  his  mind,  he  asked,  hurriedly  : 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  5/ 

"  What  takes  you  to  Buffalo — to-day — so  suddenly  ?  " 

Her  answer  was  set  and  mechanical. 

"  I  have  had  news.  One  of  my — my  friends  is  not  well. 
I  must  go.     Do  not  detain  me." 

And  she  moved  quickly  toward  the  gate. 

But  his  tremulous  hand  was  upon  it,  and  he  made  no 
offer  to  open  a  passage  for  her. 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  he,  "  but  I  cannot  let  you  go  till  I 
have  had  some  conversation  with  you.  Come  with  me  to 
the  house,  Imogene.     I  will  not  detain  you  long." 

But  with  a  sad  and  abstracted  gesture  she  slowly  shook 
her  head. 

"  It  is  too  late,"  she  murmured.  "  I  shall  miss  the  train 
if  I  stop  now." 

"  Then  you  must  miss  it,"  he  cried,  bitterly,  forgetting 
every  thing  else  in  the  torture  of  his  uncertainty.  "  What 
I  have  to  say  cannot  wait.     Come  !  " 

This  tone  of  command  from  one  who  had  hitherto 
adapted  himself  to  her  every  whim,  seemed  to  strike  her. 
Paling  quickly,  she  for  the  first  time  looked  at  him  with 
something  like  a  comprehension  of  his  feelings,  and 
quietly  replied  : 

'Torgive  me.  I  had  forgotten  for  the  moment  the 
extent  of  your  claims  upon  me.  I  will  wait  till  to-morrow 
before  going."     And  she  led  the  way  back  to  the  house. 

When  they  were  alone  together  in  the  library,  he  turned 
toward  her  with  a  look  whose  severity  was  the  fruit  of 
his  condition  of  mind  rather  than  of  any  natural  harshness 
or  imperiousness. 


58  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Now,  Imogene,"  said  he,  "  tell  me  why  you  desire  to 
leave  my  house." 

Her  face,  which  had  assumed  a  mask  of  cold  impassive- 
ness,  confronted  him  like  that  of  a  statue,  but  her  voice, 
when  she  spoke,  was  sufficiently  gentle. 

"Mr.  Orcutt,"  was  her  answer,  "  I  have  told  you.  I 
have  a  call  elsewhere  which  must  be  attended  to.  I  do 
not  leave  your  house  ;  I  merely  go  to  Buffalo  for  a  few 
days." 

But  he  could  not  believe  this  short  statement  of  her 
intentions.  In  the  light  of  these  new  fears  of  his,  this 
talk  of  Buffalo,  and  a  call  there,  looked  to  him  like  the 
merest  subterfuge.  Yet  her  gentle  tone  was  not  with- 
out its  effect,  and  his  voice  visibly  softened  as  he  said  : 

"  You  are  intending,  then,  to  return  ?  " 

Her  reply  was  prefaced  by  a  glance  of  amazement. 

"  Of  course,"  she  responded  at  last.  "  Is  not  this 
my  home  ? " 

Something  in  the  way  she  said  this  carried  a  ray  of 
hope  to  his  heart.  Taking  her  hand  in  his,  he  looked  at 
her  long  and  searchingly., 

"  Imogene  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  there  is  something  serious 
weighing  upon  your  heart.  What  is  it  ?  Will  you  not 
make  me  the  confidant  of  your  troubles  ?  Tell  me  what 
has  made  such  a  change  in  you  since — since  noon,  and  its 
dreadful  event." 

But  her  expression  did  not  soften,  and  her  manner  be- 
came even  more  reserved  than  before. 


"Taking  ner  naiid  in  his,  he  looked  at  her  long  and  searchingly.  '  Imo- 
gene,'  he  exclaimed,  '  there  is  something  weighing  on  your  heart.' "  — 
(Page  58.) 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       59 

"I  have  not  any  thing  to  tell,"  said  she. 

"  Not  any  thing  ?  "  he  repeated. 

"  Not  any  thing." 

Dropping  her  hand,  he  communed  a  moment  with  him- 
self. That  a  secret  of  possible  consequence  lay  between 
them  he  could  not  doubt.  That  it  had  reference  to  and 
involved  the  crime  of  the  morning,  he  was  equally  sure. 
But  how  was  he  to  make  her  acknowledge  it  ?  How  was 
he  to  reach  her  mind  and  determine  its  secrets  without 
alarming  her  dignity  or  wounding  her  heart  ? 

To  press  her  with  questions  seemed  impossible.  Even 
if  he  could  have  found  words  with  which  to  formulate  his 
fears,  her  firm,  set  face,  and  steady,  unrelenting  eye, 
assured  him  only  too  plainly  that  the  attempt  would 
be  met  by  failure,  if  it  did  not  bring  upon  him  her 
scorn  and  contempt.  No  ;  some  other  method  must 
be  found  ;  some  way  that  would  completely  and  at  once 
ease  his  mind  of  a  terrible  weight,  and  yet  involve  no  risk 
to  the  love  that  had  now  become  the  greatest  necessity  of 
his  existence.  But  what  way  ?  With  all  his  acumen  and 
knowledge  of  the  world,  he  could  think  of  but  one. 
He  would  ask  her  hand  in  marriage — aye,  at  this  very  mo- 
ment— and  from  the  tenor  of  her  reply  judge  of  the 
nature  of  her  thoughts.  For,  looking  in  her  face,  he  felt 
forced  to  acknowledge  that  whatever  doubts  he  had 
ever  cherished  in  reference  to  the  character  of  this  re- 
markable girl,  upon  one  point  he  was  perfectly  clear,  and 
this  was,  that  she  was  at  basis  honorable  in  her  instincts, 


6o  HAND   AND    RING. 

and  would  never  do  herself  or  another  a  real  injustice.  If 
a  distinct  wrong  or  even  a  secret  of  an  unhappy  or  debas- 
ing nature  lay  between  them,  he  knew  that  nothing,  not 
even  the  bitterest  necessity  or  the  most  headlong  passion, 
would  ever  drive  her  into  committing  the  dishonor  of 
marrying  him. 

No  ;  if  with  his  declaration  in  her  ears,  and  with  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  hers,  she  should  give  any  token  of 
her  willingness  to  accept  his  addresses,  he  felt  he  might 
know,  beyond  doubt  or  cavil,  that  whatever  womanish 
excitability  may  have  moved  her  in  her  demonstrations 
that  day,  they  certainly  arose  from  no  private  knowledge 
or  suspicion  detrimental  to  his  future  peace  or  to  hers. 

Bracing  himself,  therefore,  to  meet  any  result  that 
might  follow  his  attempt,  he  drew  her  gently  toward  him 
and  determinedly  addressed  her. 

"  Imogene,  I  told  you  at  the  gate  that  I  had  some- 
thing to  say  to  you.  So  I  have  ;  and  though  it  may 
not  be  wholly  unexpected  to  you,  yet  I  doubt  if  it  would 
have  left  my  lips  to-night  if  the  events  of  the  day  had  not 
urged  me  to  offer  you  my  sympathy  and  protection." 

He  paused,  almost  sickened  ;  at  that  last  phrase 
she  had  grown  so  terribly  white  and  breathless.  But 
something  in  her  manner,  nothwithstanding,  seemed  to 
encourage  him  to  proceed,  and  smothering  liis  doubts, 
trampling,  as  it  were,  upon  his  rising  apprehensions, 
he  calmed  down  his  tone  and  went  quietly  on  : 

"  Imogene,  I  love  you." 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       6 1 

She  did  not  shrink. 

"  Imogene,  I  want  you  for  my  wife.  Will  you  listen  to 
my  prayer,  and  make  my  home  forever  happy  with  your 
presence  ?  " 

Ah,  now  she  showed  feeling  ;  now  she  started  and  drew 
back,  putting  out  her  hands  as  if  the  idea  he  had 
advanced  was  insupportable  to  her.  But  it  was  only  for 
a  moment.  Before  he  could  say  to  himself  that  it  was  all 
over,  that  his  worst  fears  had  been  true,  and  that  nothing 
but  the  sense  of  some  impassable  gulf  between  them 
could  have  made  her  recoil  from  him  like  this,  she 
had  dropped  her  hands  and  turned  toward  him  with 
a  look  whose  deep  inquiry  and  evident  struggle  after 
an  un'derstanding  of  his  claims,  spoke  of  a  mind  clouded 
by  trouble,  but  not  alienated  from  himself  by  fear. 

She  did  not  speak,  however, — not  for  some  few  minutes, 
and  when  she  did,  her  words  came  in  short  and  hurried 
gasps. 

"  You  are  kind,"  was  what  she  said.  "  To  be  your — 
wife  " — she  had  difficulty  in  uttering  the  word,  but  it 
came  at  last — "  would  be  an  honor  and  a  protection,  I 
appreciate  both.  But  I  am  in  no  mood  to-night  to  listen 
to  words  of  love  from    any  man.     Perhaps  six  months 

hence " 

But  he  already  had  her  in  his  arms.  The  joy  and  re- 
lief he  felt  were  so  great  he  could  not  control  himself. 
"  Imogene,"  he  murmured,  "  my  Imogene  !  "  And 
scarcely  heeded  her  when,  in  a  burst  of  subdued  agony, 


62  HAND   AND   RING. 

she  asked  to  be  released,  saying  that  she  was  ill  and  tired, 
and  must  be  allowed  to  withdraw  to  her  room. 

But  a  second  appeal  woke  him  from  his  dream.  If  his 
worst  fears  were  without  foundation  ;  if  her  mind  was 
pure  of  aught  that  unfitted  her  to  be  his  wife,  there  was 
yet  much  that  was  mysterious  in  her  conduct,  and,  conse- 
quently, much  which  he  longed  to  have  explained. 

"Imogene,"  he  said,  "I  must  ask  you  to  remain  a 
moment  longer.  Hard  as  it  is  for  me  to  distress  you, 
there  is  a  question  which  I  feel  it  necessary  to  put  to  you 
before  you  go.  It  is  in  reference  to  the  fearful  crime 
which  took  place  to-day.  Why  did  you  take  such  an  in- 
terest in  it,  and  why  has  it  had  such  an  effect  upon  you 
that  you  look  like  a  changed  woman  to-night  ?" 

Disengaging  herself  from  his  arms,  she  looked  at  him 
with  the  set  composure  of  one  driven  to  bay,  and  asked  : 

"  Is  there  any  thing  strange  in  my  being  interested  in  a 
murder  perpetrated  on  a  person  whose  name  I  have  fre- 
quently heard  mentioned  in  this  house  ?  " 

"No,"  he  murmured,  "no  ;  but  what  led  you  to  her 
home  ?  it  was  not  a  spot  for  a  young  lady  to  be  in,  and 
any  other  woman  would  have  shrunk  from  so  immediate 
a  contact  with  crime." 

Imogene's  hand  was  on  the  door,  but  she  turned  back. 

"  I  am  not  like  other  women,"  she  declared.  "  When  I 
hear  of  any  thing  strange  or  mysterious,  I  want  to  under- 
stand it.  I  did  not  stop  to  ask  what  people  would  think 
of  my  conduct." 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       63 

"  But  your  grief  and  terror,  Iniogene  ?  They  are  real, 
and  not  to  be  disguised.  Look  in  the  glass  over  there, 
and  you  will  yourself  see  what  an  effect  all  this  has  had 
upon  you.  If  Mrs.  Clemraens  is  a  stranger  to  you  ;  if  you 
know  no  more  of  her  than  you  have  always  led  me  to  sup- 
pose, why  should  you  have  been  so  unnaturally  impressed 
by  to-day's  tragedy  ?  " 

It  was  a  searching  question,  and  her  eye  fell  slightly, 
but  her  steady  demeanor  did  not  fail  her. 

"  Still,"  said  she,  "  because  I  am  not  like  other  women. 
I  cannot  forget  such  horrors  in  a  moment."  And  she 
advanced  again  to  the  door,  upon  which  she  laid  her 
hand. 

Unconsciously  his  eye  followed  the  movement,  and 
rested  somewhat  inquiringly  upon  that  hand.  It  was 
gloved,  but  to  all  appearance  was  without  the  ring  which 
he  had  seen  her  put  on  at  the  widow's  house. 

She  seemed  to  comprehend  his  look.  Meeting  his  eye 
with  unshaken  firmness,  she  resumed,  in  a  low  and  con- 
strained voice  : 

"  You  are  wondering  about  the  ring  that  formed  a 
portion  of  the  scene  we  are  discussing.  Mr.  Orcutt,  I 
told  the  gentleman  who  handed  it  to  me  to-day  that  it 
was  mine.  That  should  be  enough  for  the  man  who 
professes  sufficient  confidence  in  me  to  wish  to  make  me 
his  wife.  But  since  your  looks  confess  a  curiosity  in 
regard  to  this  diamond,  I  will  say  that  I  was  as  much  as- 
tonished as  anybody  to  see  it  picked  up  from  the  floor  at 


64  HAND   AND   RING. 

my  feet.  The  last  time  I  had  seen  it  was  when  I  dropped 
it,  somewhat  recklessly,  into  a  pocket.  How  or  when  it 
fell  out,  I  cannot  say.  As  for  the  ring  itself,"  she  haugh- 
tily added,  "  young  ladies  frequently  possess  articles  of 
whose  existence  their  friends  are  unconscious." 

Here  was  an  attempt  at  an  explanation  which,  though 
meagre  and  far  from  satisfactory,  had  at  least  a  basis  in 
possibility.  But  Mr.  Orcutt,  as  I  have  before  said,  was 
certain  that  the  ring  was  lying  on  the  floor  of  the  room 
where  it  was  picked  up,  before  Imogene  had  made  her 
appearance  there,  and  was  therefore  struck  with  dismay 
at  this  conclusive  evidence  of  her  falsehood. 

Yet,  as  he  said  to  himself,  she  might  have  some  associ- 
ation with  the  ring,  might  even  have  an  owner's  claim 
upon  it,  incredible  as  this  appeared,  without  being  in  the 
possession  of  such  knowledge  as  definitely  connected  it 
with  this  crime.  And  led  by  this  hope  he  laid  his  hand 
on  hers  as  it  was  softly  turning  the  knob  of  the  door,  and 
said,  with  emotion  : 

"  Imogene,  one  moment.  This  is  a  subject  which  I  am 
as  anxious  to  drop  as  you  are.  In  your  condition  it  is 
almost  cruelty  to  urge  it  upon  you,  but  of  one  thing  I 
must  be  assured  before  you  leave  my  presence,  and  that 
is,  that  whatever  secrets  you  may  hide  in  your  soul,  or 
whatever  motive  may  have  governed  your  treatment  of  me 
and  my  suit  to-night,  they  do  not  spring  from  any  real  or 
supposed  interest  in  this  crime,  which  ought  from  its 
nature  to  separate  you  and  me.     I  ask,"  he  quickly  added, 


THE   GENTLEMAN  FROM   TOLEDO.  65 

as  he  saw  her  give  a  start  of  injured  pride  or  irrepressible 
dismay,  "not  because  I  have  any  doubts  on  the  subject 
myself,  but  because  some  of  the  persons  who  have  un- 
fortunately been  witness  to  your  strange  and  excited  con- 
duct to-day,  have  presumed  to  hint  that  nothing  short  of 
a  secret  knowledge  of  the  crime  or  criminal  could  explain 
your  action  upon  the  scene  of  tragedy." 

And  with  a  look  which,  if  she  had  observed  it,  might 
have  roused  her  to  a  sense  of  the  critical  position  in  which 
she  stood,  he  paused  and  held  his  breath  for  her  reply. 
It  did  not  come. 
"  Imogene  ? " 
"I  hear." 

Cold  and  hard  the  words  sounded — his  hand  went  like 
lightning  to  his  heart. 

"Are  you  going  to  answer?"  he  asked,  at  last. 
"Yes." 

"  What  is  that  answer  to  be,  Yes  or  No  ? " 
She  turned  upon  him  her  large  gray  eyes.     There  was 
misery  in  their  depths,  but  there  was  a  haughtiness,  also, 
which  only  truth  could  impart. 
"  My  answer  is  No  !  "  said  she. 

And,  without  another  word,  she  glided  from  the  room. 
Next  morning,  Mr.  Byrd  found  three  notes  awaiting 
his  perusal.  The  first  was  a  notification  from  the  coroner 
to  the  effect  that  the  Widow  Clemmens  had  quietly 
breathed  her  last  at  midnight.  The  second,  a  hurried 
line  from  Mr.  Ferris,  advising  him  to  make  use  of  the  day 


66  HAND   AND    RING. 

in  concluding  a  certain  matter  of  theirs  in  the  next  town  ; 
and  the  third,  a  letter  from  Mr.  Orcutt,  couched  in  the 
following  terms  : 

Mr.  Byrd  :  Dear  Sir — I  have  seen  the  person  named  between 
us,  and  I  here  state,  upon  my  honor,  that  she  is  in  possession  of  no 
facts  which  it  concerns  the  authorities  to  know. 

Tremont  B.  Orcutt. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM   TOLEDO.  67 


V. 

HORACE    BYRD. 

But  now,  I  am  cabin'd,  cribbed,  confin'd,  bound  in 
To  saucy  doubts  and  fears. — Macbeth. 

HORACE  BYRD  was  by  birth  and  education  a 
gentleman.  He  was  the  son  of  a  man  of  small 
means  but  great  expectations,  and  had  been  reared  to 
look  forward  to  the  day  when  he  should  be  the  possessor 
of  a  large  income.  But  his  father  dying,  both  means  and 
expectations  vanished  into  thin  air,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  young  Horace  found  himself  thrown  upon  the 
world  without  income,  without  business,  and,  what  was 
Still  worse,  without  those  habits  of  industry  that  serve  a 
man  in  such  an  emergency  better  than  friends  and  often 
better  than  money  itself. 

He  had  also  an  invalid  mother  to  look  after,  and  two 
young  sisters  whom  he  loved  with  warm  and  devoted 
affection  ;  and  though  by  the  kindness  and  forethought 
of  certain  relatives  he  was  for  a  time  spared  all  anxiety 
on  their  account,  he  soon  found  that  some  exertion  on 
his  part  would  be  necessary  to  their  continued  subsistence, 
and  accordingly  set  about  the  task  of  finding  suitable 
employment,  with  much  spirit  and  no  little  hope. 

But  a  long  series  of  disappointments  taught  him  that 


68  HAND   AND   RING. 

young  men  cannot  leap  at  a  bound  into  a  fine  salary  or 
even  a  promising  situation  ;  and  baffled  in  every  wish, 
worn  out  with  continued  failures,  he  sank  from  one  state 
of  hope  to  another,  till  he  was  ready  to  embrace  any 
prospect  that  would  insure  ease  and  comfort  to  the  helpless 
beings  he  so  much  loved. 

It  was  while  he  was  in  this  condition  that  Mr.  Gryce — 
a  somewhat  famous  police  detective  of  New  York — came 
upon  him,  and  observing,  as  he  thought,  some  signs  of 
natural  aptitude  iox  fine  work,  as  he  called  it,  in  this  ele- 
gant but  decidedly  hard-pushed  young  gentleman,  seized 
upon  him  with  an  avidity  that  can  only  be  explained  by 
this  detective's  long-cherished  desire  to  ally  to  himself  a 
man  of  real  refinement  and  breeding ;  having,  as  he 
privately  admitted  more  than  once  to  certain  chosen 
friends,  a  strong  need  of  such  a  person  to  assist  him  in 
certain  cases  where  great  houses  were  to  be  entered  and 
fine  gentlemen  if  not  fair  ladies  subjected  to  interviews  of 
a  delicate  and  searching  nature. 

To  join  the  police  force  and  be  a  detective  was  the  last 
contingency  that  had  occurred  to  Horace  Byrd.  But 
men  in  decidedly  straitened  circumstances  cannot  pick 
and  choose  too  nicely  ;  and  after  a  week  of  uncertainty 
and  fresh  disappointment,  he  went  manfully  to  his  mother 
and  told  her  of  the  offer  that  had  been  made  him.  Meeting 
with  less  discouragement  than  he  had  expected  from  the 
broken-down  and  unhappy  woman,  he  gave  himself  up  to 
the  guiding  hand  of  Mr.  Gryce,  and  before  he  realized  it, 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  69 

was  enrolled  among  the  secret  members  of  the  New  York 
force. 

He  was  not  recognized  publicly  as  a  detective.  His 
name  was  not  even  known  to  any  but  the  highest  officials. 
He  was  employed  for  special  purposes,  and  it  was  not 
considered  desirable  that  he  should  be  seen  at  police 
head-quarters.  But  being  a  man  of  much  ability  and  of  a 
solid,  reliable  nature,  he  made  his  way  notwithstanding, 
and  by  the  time  he  had  been  in  the  service  a  year,  was 
looked  upon  as  a  good-fellow  and  a  truly  valuable  acquisi- 
tion to  the  bureau.  Indeed,  he  possessed  more  than  the 
usual  qualifications  for  his  calling,  strange  as  the  fact 
appeared  not  only  to  himself  but  to  the  few  friends 
acquainted  with  his  secret.  In  the  first  place,  he  pos- 
sessed much  acuteness  without  betraying  it.  Of  an  easy 
bearing  and  a  polished  address,  he  was  a  man  to  please 
all  and  alarm  none,  yet  he  always  knew  what  he  was 
about  and  what  you  were  about,  too,  unless  indeed  you 
possessed  a  power  of  dissimulation  much  beyond  ordinary, 
when  the  chances  were  that  his  gentlemanly  instincts 
would  get  in  his  way,  making  it  impossible  for  him  to 
believe  in  a  guilt  that  was  too  hardy  to  betray  itself,  and 
too  insensible  to  shame  to  blush  before  the  touth  of  the 
inquisitor. 

In  the  second  place,  he  liked  the  business.  Yes,  not- 
withstanding the  theories  of  that  social  code  to  which  he 
once  paid  deference,  notwithstanding  the  frankness  and 
candor  of  his  own  disposition,  he  found  in  this  pursuit  a 


70  HAND   AND    RING. 

nice  adjustment  of  cause  to  effect  and  effect  to  cause 
that  at  once  pleased  and  satisfied  his  naturally  mathe- 
matical mind. 

He  did  not  acknowledge  the  fact,  not  even  to  himself. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  always  threatening  that  in  another 
month  he  should  look  up  some  new  means  of  livelihood, 
but  the  coming  month  would  invariably  bring  a  fresh  case 
before  his  notice,  and  then  it  would  be  :  "  Well,  after  this 
matter  is  probed  to  the  bottom,"  or,  "When  that  criminal 
is  made  to  confess  his  guilt,"  till  even  his  little  sisters 
caught  the  infection,  and  w-ould  whisper  over  their  dolls  : 

"  Brother  Horace  is  going  to  be  a  great  man  when  all 
the  bad  and  naughty  people  in  the  world  are  put  in 
prison." 

As  a  rule,  Mr.  Byrd  was  not  sent  out  of  town.  But,  on 
the  occasion  of  Mr.  Ferris  desiring  a  man  of  singular  dis- 
cretion to  assist  him  in  certain  inquiries  connected  with 
the  case  then  on  trial  in  Sibley,  there  happened  to  be  a 
deficiency  of  capable  men  in  the  bureau,  and  the  superin- 
tendent was  obliged  to  respond  to  the  call  by  sending  Mr. 
Byrd.  He  did  not  do  it,  however,  without  making  the 
proviso  that  all  public  recognition  of  this  officer,  in  his 
real  capacity,  was  to  be  avoided.  And  so  far  the  wishes 
of  his  superiors  had  been  respected.  No  one  outside  of 
the  few  persons  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  of  this 
story  suspected  that  the  easy,  affable,  and  somewhat  dis- 
tinguished-looking young  gentleman  who  honored  the 
village  hotel  with  his  patronage  was  a  secret  emissary  of 
the  New  York  police. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       7 1 

Mr.  Byrd  was,  of  all  men,  then,  the  very  one  to  feelthe 
utmost  attraction  toward,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
greatest  shrinking  from,  the  pursuit  of  such  investigations 
as  were  likely  to  ensue  upon  the  discovery  of  the  mysteri- 
ous case  of  murder  which  had  so  unexpectedly  been 
presented  to  his  notice.  As  a  professional,  he  could  not 
fail  to  experience  that  quick  start  of  the  blood  which 
always  follows  the  recognition  of  a  "big  affair,"  while  as 
a  gentleman,  he  felt  himself  recoil  from  probing  into  a 
matter  that  was  blackened  by  a  possibility  against  which 
every  instinct  in  his  nature  rebelled. 

It  was,  therefore,  with  oddly  mingled  sensations  that 
he  read  Mr.  Orcutt's  letter,  and  found  himself  compelled 
to  admit  that  the  coroner  had  possessed  a  truer  insight 
than  himself  into  the  true  cause  of  Miss  Dare's  eccentric 
conduct  upon  the  scene  of  the  tragedy.  His  main  feeling, 
however,  was  one  of  relief.  It  was  such  a  comfort  to 
think  he  could  proceed  in  the  case  without  the  dread  of 
stumbling  upon  a  clue  that,  in  some  secret  and  unforeseen 
way,  should  connect  this  imposing  woman  with  a  revolting 
crime.  Or  so  he  fondly  considered.  But  he  had  not  spent 
five  minutes  at  the  railroad  station,  where,  in  pursuance 
to  the  commands  of  Mr.  Ferris,  he  went  to  take  the  train 
for  Monteith,  before  he  saw  reason  to  again  change  his 
mind.  For,  there  among  the  passengers  awaiting  the 
New  York  express,  he  saw  Miss  Dare,  with  a  travelling- 
bag  upon  her  arm  and  a  look  on  her  face  that,  to  say  the 
least,  was  of  most  uncommon  character  in  a  scene  of  so 


72  HAND   AND   RING. 

much  bustle  and  hurry.  She  was  going  away,  then — going 
to  leave  Sibley  and  its  mystery  behind  her  !  He  was  not 
pleased  with  the  discovery.  This  sudden  departure 
looked  too  much  like  escape,  and  gave  him,  notwithstand- 
ing the  assurance  he  had  received  from  Mr.  Orcutt,  an 
'  uneasy  sense  of  having  tampered  with  his  duty  as  an 
officer  of  justice,  in  thus  providing  this  mysterious  young 
woman  with  a  warning  that  could  lead  to  a  result  like 
this. 

Yet,  as  he  stood  at  the  depot  surveying  Miss  Dare,  in 
the  few  minutes  they  both  had  to  wait,  he  asked  himself 
over  and  over  again  how  any  thought  of  her  possessing  a 
personal  interest  in  the  crime  which  had  just  taken  place 
could  retain  a  harbor  in  his  mind.  She  looked  so  noble 
in  her  quiet  aspect  of  solemn  determination,  so  superior 
in  her  young,  fresh  beauty — a  determination  that,  from 
the  lofty  look  it  imparted,  must  have  its  birth  in  generous 
emotion,  even  if  her  beauty  was  but  the  result  of  a  rarely 
modelled  frame  and  a  health  of  surpassing  perfection. 
He  resolved  he  would  think  of  her  no  more  in  that  or  any 
other  connection  ;  that  he  would  follow  the  example  of 
her  best  friend,  and  give  his  doubts  to  the  wind. 

And  yet  such  a  burr  is  suspicion,  that  he  no  sooner  saw 
a  young  man  approaching  her  with  the  evident  intention 
of  speaking,  than  he  felt  an  irresistible  desire  to  hear 
what  she  would  have  to  say,  and,  led  by  this  impulse, 
allowed  himself  to  saunter  nearer  and  nearer  the  pair,  till 
he  stood  almost  at  their  backs. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       73 

The  first  words  he  heard  were  : 

"  How  long  do  you  expect  to  remain  in  Buffalo,  Miss 
Dare  ?  " 

To  which  she  replied  : 

"  I  have  no  idea  whether  I  shall  stay  a  week  or  a 
month." 

Then  the  whistle  of  the  advancing  train  was  heard,  and 
the  two  pressed  hurriedly  forward. 

The  business  which  had  taken  Mr.  Byrd  to  Monteith 
kept  him  in  that  small  town  all  day.  But  though  he  thus 
missed  the  opportunity  of  attending  the  opening  of  the 
inquest  at  Sibley,  he  did  not  experience  the  vivid  disap- 
pointment which  might  have  been  expected,  his  interest 
in  that  matter  having  in  some  unaccountable  way  subsided 
from  the  moment  he  saw  Imogene  Dare  take  the  cars  for 
Buffalo. 

It  was  five  o'clock  when  he  again  returned  to  Sibley, 
the  hour  at  which  the  western  train  was  also  due.  In 
fact,  it  came  steaming  in  while  he  stood  there,  and,  as 
was  natural,  perhaps,  he  paused  a  moment  to  watch  the 
passengers  alight.  There  were  not  many,  and  he  was 
about  to  turn  toward  home,  when  he  saw  a  lady  step 
upon  the  platform  whose  appearance  was  so  familiar  that 
he  stopped,  disbelieving  th.e  evidence  of  his  own  senses. 
Miss  Dare  returned  ?  Miss  Dare,  who  but  a  few  hours 
before  had  left  this  very  depot  for  the  purpose,  as  she 
said,  of  making  a  visit  of  more  or  less  length  in  the  dis- 
tant city  of  Buffalo  ?     It  could  not  be.     And  yet  there 


74  HAND   AND   RING. 

was  no  mistaking  her,  disguised  though  she  was  by  the 
heavy  veil  that  covered  her  features.  She  had  come 
back,  and  the  interest  which  Mr.  Byrd  had  lost  in  Sibley 
and  its  possible  mystery,  revived  with  a  suddenness  that 
called  up  a  self-conscious  blush  to  his  hardy  cheek. 

But  why  had  she  so  changed  her  plans  ?  What  could 
have  occurred  during  the  few  hours  that  had  elapsed 
since  her  departure,  to  turn  her  about  on  her  path  and 
drive  her  homeward  before  her  journey  was  half  com- 
pleted ?  He  could  not  imagine.  True,  it  was  not  his 
present  business  to  do  so  ;  and  yet,  however  much  he  en- 
deavored to  think  of  other  things,  he  found  this  question 
occupying  his  whole  mind  long  after  his  return  to  the 
village  hotel.  She  was  such  a  mystery,  this  woman,  it 
might  easily  be  that  she  had  never  intended  to  go  to  Buf- 
falo ;  that  she  had  only  spoken  of  that  place  as  the  point 
of  her  destination  under  the  stress  of  her  companion's 
importunities,  and  that  the  real  place  for  which  she  was 
bound  had  been  some  spot  very  much  nearer  home.  The 
fact,  that  her  baggage  had  consisted  only  of  a  small  bag 
that  she  carried  on  her  arm,  would  lend  probability  to  this 
idea,  yet,  such  was  the  generous  character  of  the  young 
detective,  he  hesitated  to  give  credit  to  this  suspicion,  and 
indeed  took  every  pains  to  disabuse  himself  of  it  by  in- 
quiring of  the  ticket-agent,  whether  it  was  true,  as  he  had 
heard,  that  Miss  Dare  had  left  town  on  that  day  for  a 
visit  to  her  friends  in  Buffalo. 

He  received  for  his  reply  that  she  had  bought  a  ticket 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  75 

for  that  place,  though  she  evidently  had  not  used  it,  a 
fact  which  seemed  at  least  to  prove  she  was  honest  in  the 
expression  of  her  intentions  that  morning,  whatever  altera- 
tion may  have  taken  place  in  her  plans  during  the  course 
of  her  journey. 

Mr.  Byrd  did  not  enjoy  his  supper  that  night,  and  was 
heartily  glad  when,  in  a  few  moments  after  its  comple- 
tion, Mr.  Ferris  came  in  for  a  chat  and  a  cigar. 

They  had  many  things  to  discuss.  First,  their  own 
case  now  drawing  to  a  successful  close  ;  next,  the  murder 
of  the  day  before  ;  and  lastly,  the  few  facts  which  had 
been  elicited  in  regard  to  that  murder,  in  the  inquiry 
which  had  that  day  been  begun  before  the  coroner. 

Of  the  latter  Mr.  Ferris  spoke  with  much  interest.  He 
had  attended  the  inquest  himself,  and,  though  he  had  not 
much  to  communicate — the  time  having  been  mainly 
taken  up  in  selecting  and  swearing  in  a  jury — a  few  wit- 
nesses had  been  examined  and  certain  conclusions 
reached,  which  certainly  added  greatly  to  the  impression 
already  made  upon  the  public  mind,  that  an  affair  of 
great  importance  had  arisen  ;  an  affair,  too,  promising 
more  in  the  way  of  mystery  than  the  simple  nature  of  its 
earlier  manifestations  gave  them  reason  to  suppose. 

In  the  first  place,  the  widow  had  evidently  been  as- 
saulted with  a  deliberate  purpose  and  a  serious  intent  to 
slay. 

Secondly,  no  immediate  testimony  was  forthcoming 
calculated  to  point  with  unerring  certainty  to  the  guilty 
party. 


y^  HAND   AND   RING. 

To  be  sure,  the  tramp  and  the  hunchback  still  offered 
possibilities  of  suspicion  ;  but  even  they  were  slight,  the 
former  having  been  seen  to  leave  the  widow's  house 
without  entering,  and  the  latter  having  been  proved  be- 
yond a  question  to  have  come  into  town  on  the  morning 
train  and  to  have  gone  at  once  to  court  where  he  re- 
mained till  the  time  they  all  saw  him  disappear  down  the 
street. 

That  the  last-mentioned  individual  may  have  had  some 
guilty  knowledge  of  the  crime  was  possible  enough.  The 
fact  of  his  having  wiped  himself  out  so  completely  as  to 
elude  all  search,  was  suspicious  in  itself,  but  if  he  was 
connected  with  the  assault  it  must  have  been  simply  as  an 
accomplice  employed  to  distract  public  attention  from 
the  real  criminal  ;  and  in  a  case  like  this,  the  interest 
naturally  centres  with  the  actual  perpetrator  ;  and  the 
question  was  now  and  must  be  :  Who  was  the  man  who, 
in  broad  daylight,  dared  to  enter  a  house  situated  like 
this  in  a  thickly  populated  street,  and  kill  with  a  blow  an 
inoffensive  woman  ? 

"  I  cannot  imagine,"  declared  Mr.  Ferris,  as  his  com- 
munication reached  this  point.  "  It  looks  as  if  she  had 
an  enemy,  but  what  enemy  could  such  a  person  as  she 
possess — a  woman  who  always  did  her  own  work,  attended 
to  her  own  affairs,  and  made  it  an  especial  rule  of  her 
life  never  to  meddle  with  those  of  anybody  else  ? " 

"  Was  she  such  a  woman  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Byrd,  to 
whom  as  yet  no  knowledge  had  come  of  the  widow's  life, 
habits,  or  character. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       'J'J 

"  Yes.  In  all  the  years  I  have  been  in  this  town  I  have 
never  heard  of  her  visiting  any  one  or  encouraging  any 
one  to  visit  her.  Had  it  not  been  for  Mr.  Orcutt,  she 
would  have  lived  the  life  of  a  recluse.  As  it  was,  she  was 
the  most  methodical  person  in  her  ways  that  I  ever  knew. 
At  just  such  an  hour  she  rose  ;  at  just  such  an  hour  put 
on  her  kettle,  cooked  her  meal,  washed  her  dishes,  and  sat 
herself  down  to  her  sewing  or  whatever  work  it  was  she 
had  to  do.  The  dinner  was  the  only  meal  that  waited, 
and  that,  Mr.  Orcutt  says,  was  always  ready  and  done  to 
a  turn  at  whatever  moment  he  chose  to  present  himself." 

"  Had  she  no  intimates,  no  relatives  ? "  asked  Mr. 
Byrd,  remembering  that  fragment  of  a  letter  he  had  read 
— a  letter  which  certainly  contradicted  this  assertion  in 
regard  to  her  even  and  quiet  life. 

"  None  that  I  am  aware  of,"  was  the  response.  "  Wait, 
I  believe  I  have  been  told  she  has  a  nephew  somewhere — 
a  sister's  son,  for  whom  she  had  some  regard  and  to  whom 
she  intended  to  leave  her  money." 

"She  had  money,  then  ?  " 

"  Some  five  thousand,  maybe.  Reports  differ  about 
such  matters." 

"  And  this  nephew,  where  does  he  live  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  tell  you.  I  don't  know  as  any  one  can.  My 
remembrances  in  regard  to  him  are  of  the  vaguest  char- 
acter." 

"  Five  thousand  dollars  is  regarded  as  no  mean  sum  in 
a  town  like  this,"  quoth  Mr.  Byrd,  carelessly. 


78  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  I  know  it.  She  is  called  quite  rich  by  many.  How 
she  got  her  money  no  one  knows  ;  for  when  she  first 
came  here  she  was  so  poor  she  had  to  eat  and  sleep  all  in 
one  room.  Mr.  Orcutt  paid  her  something  for  his  daily 
dinner,  of  course,  but  that  could  not  have  enabled  her  to 
put  ten  dollars  in  the  bank  as  she  has  done  every  week 
for  the  last  ten  years.  And  to  all  appearances  she  has 
done  nothing  else  for  her  living.  You  see,  we  have  paid 
attention  to  her  affairs,  if  she  has  paid  none  to  ours." 

Mr.  Byrd  again  remembered  that  scrap  of  a  letter  which 
had  been  shown  him  by  the  coroner,  and  thought  to  him- 
self that  their  knowledge  was  in  all  probability  less  than 
they  supposed. 

"  Who  was  that  horrid  crone  I  saw  shouldering  herself 
through  the  crowd  that  collected  around  the  gate  yester- 
day ?  "  was  his  remark,  however.  "  Do  you  remember  a 
wizen,  toothless  old  wretch,  whose  eye  has  more  of  the 
Evil  One  in  it  than  that  of  many  a  young  thief  you  see 
locked  up  in  the  county  jails  ?  " 

"  No  ;  that  is,  I  wonder  if  you  mean  Sally  Perkins. 
She  is  old  enough  and  ugly  enough  to  answer  your 
description  ;  and,  now  I  think  of  it,  she  has  a  way  of  leer- 
ing at  you  as  you  go  by  that  is  slightly  suggestive  of  a 
somewhat  bitter  knowledge  of  the  world.  What  makes 
you  ask  about  her  ?  " 

"  Because  she  attracted  my  attention,  I  suppose.  You 
must  remember  that  I  don't  know  any  of  these  people, 
and  that  an  especially  vicious-looking  person  like  her 
wcmld  be  apt  to  awaken  my  curiosity." 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  79 

"  I  see,  I  see  ;  but,  in  this  case,  I  doubt  if  it  leads  to 
much.  Old  Sally  is  a  hard  one,  no  doubt.  But  I  don't 
believe  she  ever  contemplated  a  murder,  much  less  accom- 
plished it.  It  would  take  too  much  courage,  to  say- 
nothing  of  strength.  It  was  a  man's  hand  struck  that 
blow,  Mr.  Byrd." 

"Yes,"  was  the  quick  reply — a  reply  given  somewhat 
too  quickly,  perhaps,  for  it  made  Mr.  Ferris  look  up  in- 
quiringly at  the  young  man. 

"You  take  considerable  interest  in  the  affair,"  he  re- 
marked, shortly.  "  Well,  I  do  not  wonder.  Even  my  old 
blood  has  been  somewhat  fired  by  its  peculiar  features. 
I  foresee  that  your  detective  instinct  will  soon  lead  you  to 
risk  a  run  at  the  game." 

"  Ah,  then,  you  see  no  objection  to  my  trying  for  the 
scent,  if  the  coroner  persists  in  demanding  it  ?  "  inquired 
Mr.  Byrd,  as  he  followed  the  other  to  the  door, 

"  On  the  contrary,"  was  the  polite  response. 

And  Mr.  Byrd  found  himself  satisfied  on  that  score. 

Mr.  Ferris  had  no  sooner  left  the  room  than  the  coroner 
came  in. 

"  Well,"  cried  he,  with  no  unnecessary  delay,  "I  want 
you." 

Mr.  Byrd  rose. 

"  Have  you  telegraphed  to  New  York  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  and  expect  an  answer  every  minute.  There  will 
be  no  difficulty  about  that.  The  superintendent  is  my 
friend,  and  will  not  be  likely  to  cross  me  in  my  expressed 
wish." 


80  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  But "  essayed  the  detective. 

"We  have  no  time  for  buts,"  broke  in  the  coroner. 
"  The  inquest  begins  in  earnest  to-morrow,  and  the  one 
witness  we  most  want  has  not  yet  been  found.  I  mean 
the  man  or  the  woman  who  can  swear  to  seeing  some  one 
approach  or  enter  the  murdered  woman's  house  between 
the  time  the  milkman  left  it  at  half-past  eleven  and  the 
hour  she  was  found  by  Mr.  Orcutt,  lying  upon  the  floor 
of  her  dining-room  in  a  dying  condition.  That  such  a 
witness  exists  I  have  no  doubt.  A  street  in  which  there 
are  six  houses,  every  one  of  which  has  to  be  passed  by 
the  person  entering  Widow  Clemmens'  gate,  must  pro- 
duce one  individual,  at  least,  who  can  swear  to  what  I 
want.  To  be  sure,  all  whom  I  have  questioned  so  far  say 
that  they  were  either  eating  dinner  at  the  time  or  were 
in  the  kitchen  serving  it  up  ;  but,  for  all  that,  there  were 
plenty  who  saw  the  tramp,  and  two  women,  at  least,  who 
are  ready  to  take  their  oath  that  they  not  only  saw  him, 
but  watched  him  long  enough  to  observe  him  go  around 
to  the  Widow  Clemmens'  kitchen  door  and  turn  about 
again  and  come  away  as  if  for  some  reason  he  had 
I  changed  his  mind  about  entering.  Now,  if  there  were 
two  witnesses  to  see  all  that,  there  must  have  been  one 
somewhere  to  notice  that  other  person,  known  or  unknown, 
who  went  through  the  street  but  a  few  minutes  before 
the  tramp.  At  all  events,  I  believe  such  a  witness  can 
be  found,  and  I  mean  to  have  him  if  I  call  up  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  who  was  in  the  lane  at  the  time.     But 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       8 1 

a  little  foreknowledge  helps  a  coroner  wonderfully,  and 
if  you  will  aid  me  by  making  judicious  inquiries  round 
about,  time  will  be  gained,  and,  perhaps,  a  clue  obtained 
that  will  lead  to  a  direct  knowledge  of  the  perpetrator 
of  this  crime." 

"But,"  inquired  the  detective,  willing,  at  least,  to  dis- 
cuss the  subject  with  the  coroner,  "  is  it  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  the  murderer  should  have  advanced  from  the 
street  ?  Is  there  no  way  he  could  have  reached  the  house 
from  the  back,  and  so  have  eluded  the  gaze  of  the 
neighbors  round  about  ?  " 

"  No  ;  that  is,  there  is  no  regular  path  there,  only  a 
stretch  of  swampy  ground,  any  thing  but  pleasant  to  travel 
through.  Of  course  a  man  with  a  deliberate  purpose  be- 
fore him  might  pursue  that  route  and  subject  himself  to 
all  its  inconveniences  ;  but  I  would  scarcely  expect  it  of 
one  who — who  chose  such  an  hour  for  his  assault,"  the 
coroner  explained,  with  a  slight  stammer  of  embarrass- 
ment that  did  not  escape  the  detective's  notice.  "  Nor 
shall  I  feel  ready  to  entertain  the  idea  till  it  has  been 
proved  that  no  person,  with  the  exception  of  those  already 
named,  was  seen  any  time  during  that  fatal  half-hour  to 
advance  by  the  usual  way  to  the  widow's  house." 

"  Have  you  questioned  the  tramp,  or  in  any  way  re- 
ceived from  him  an  intimation  of  the  reason  why  he  did 
not  go  into  the  house  after  he  came  to  it  ? " 

"  He  said  he  heard  voices  quarrelling." 

"  Ah  !  " 


82  HAND   AND    RING. 

"Of  course  he  was  not  upon  his  oath,  but  as  the  state- 
ment was  volunteered,  we  have  some  right  to  credit  it, 
perhaps." 

"  Did  he  say  " — it  was  Mr.  Byrd  now  who  lost  a  trifle 
of  his  fluency — "  what  sort  of  voices  he  heard  ?  " 

"  No  ;  he  is  an  ignorant  wretch,  and  is  moreover 
thoroughly  frightened.  I  don't  believe  he  would  know 
a  cultivated  from  an  uncultivated  voice,  a  gentleman's 
from  a  quarryman's.  At  all  events,  we  cannot  trust  to 
his  discrimination." 

Mr.  Byrd  started.  This  was  the  last  construction  he 
had  expected  to  be  put  upon  his  question.  Flushing  a 
trifle,  he  looked  the  coroner  earnestly  in  the  face.  But 
that  gentleman  was  too  absorbed  in  the  train  of  thought 
raised  by  his  own  remark  to  notice  the  look,  and  Mr. 
Byrd,  not  feeUngany  too  well  assured  of  his  own  position, 
forbore  to  utter  the  words  that  hovered  on  his  tongue. 

"  I  have  another  commission  for  you,"  resumed  the 
coroner,  after  a  moment.  "  Here  is  a  name  which  I  wish 
you  would  look  at " 

But  at  this  instant  a  smart  tap  was  heard  at  the  door, 
and  a  boy  entered  with  the  expected  telegram  from  New 
York.  Dr.  Tredwell  took  it,  and,  after  glancing  at  its 
contents  with  an  annoyed  look,  folded  up  the  paper  he 
was  about  to  hand  to  Mr.  Byrd  and  put  it  slowly  back 
into  his  pocket.  He  then  referred  again  to  the  tele- 
gram. 

"  It  is  not  what  I  expected,"  he  said,  shortly,   after  a 


.      THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  83 

moment  of  perplexed  thought.     "  It  seems  that  the  super- 
intendent is  not  disposed  to  accommodate  me."     And  he 
tossed  over  the  telegram. 
Mr.  Byrd  took  it  and  read  : 

"  Expect  a  suitable  man  by  the  midnight  express.  He  will  bring 
a  letter." 

A  flush  mounted  to  the  detective's  brow. 

"  You  see,  sir,"  he  observed,  "  I  was  right  when  I  told 
you  I  was  not  the  man." 

"  I  don't  know,"  returned  the  other,  rising.  "  I  have 
not  changed  my  opinion.  The  man  they  send  may  be 
very  keen  and  very  well-up  in  his  business,  but  I  doubt 
if  he  will  manage  this  case  any  better  than  you  would 
have  done,"  and  he  moved  quietly  toward  the  door. 

"  Thank  you  for  your  too  favorable  opinion  of  my 
skill,"  said  Mr.  Byrd,  as  he  bowed  the  other  out.  "  I  am 
sure  the  superintendent  is  right.  I  am  not  much  accus- 
tomed to  work  for  myself,  and  was  none  too  eager  to  take 
the  case  in  the  first  place,  as  you  will  do  me  the  justice  to 
remember.  I  can  but  feel  relieved  at  this  shifting  of  the 
responsibility  upon  shoulders  more  fitted  to  bear  it." 

Yet,  when  the  coroner  was  gone,  and  he  sat  down  alone 
by  himself  to  review  the  matter,  he  found  he  was  in  re- 
ality more  disappointed  than  he  cared  to  confess.  Why, 
he  scarcely  knew.  There  was  no  lessening  of  the  shrink- 
ing he  had  always  felt  from  the  possible  developments 
which  an  earnest  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  this  crime 
might  educe.     Yet,  to  be  severed  in   this  way    from  all 


84  HAND  AND   RING. 

professional  interest  in  the  pursuit  cut  him  so  deeply  that, 
in  despite  of  his  usual  good-sense  and  correct  judgment, 
he  was  never  nearer  sending  in  his  resignation  than  he 
was  in  that  short  half-hour  which  followed  the  departure 
of  Dr.  Tredwell.  To  distract  his  thoughts,  he  at  last 
went  down  to  the  bar-room. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       85 


VI. 

THE    SKILL    OF    AN    ARTIST. 
A  hit,  a  very  palpable  hit. — Hamlet. 

HE  found  it  occupied  by  some  half-dozen  men, 
one  of  whom  immediately  attracted  his  atten- 
tion, by  his  high-bred  air  and  total  absorption  in  the 
paper  he  was  reading.  He  was  evidently  a  stranger,  and, 
though  not  without  some  faint  marks  of  a  tendency  to 
gentlemanly  dissipation,  was,  to  say  the  least,  more  than 
ordinarily  good-looking,  possessing  a  large,  manly  figure, 
and  a  fair,  regular-featured  face,  above  which  shone  a 
thick  crop  of  short  curly  hair  of  a  peculiarly  bright 
blond  color.  He  was  sitting  at  a  small  table,  drawn 
somewhat  apart  from  the  rest,  and  was,  as  I  have  said, 
engrossed  with  a  newspaper,  to  the  utter  exclusion  of  any 
apparent  interest  in  the  talk  that  was  going  on  at  the 
other  end  of  the  room.  And  yet  this  talk  was  of  the 
most  animated  description,  and  was  seemingly  of  a  nature 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  most  indifferent.  At  all 
events  Mr.  Byrd  considered  it  so  ;  and,  after  one  com- 
prehensive glance  at  the  elegant  stranger,  that  took  in  not 
only  the  personal  characteristics  I  have  noted,  but  also 
the  frown  of  deep  thought  or  anxious  care  that  furrowed 
a  naturally  smooth   forehead,  he  passed  quietly  up  the 


86  HAND   AND    RING. 

room  and  took  liis  stand  among  the  group  of  loungers 
there  assembled. 

Mr.  Byrd  was  not  unknown  to  the  habitue's  of  that 
place,  and  no  cessation  took  place  in  the  conversation. 
They  were  discussing  an  occurrence  slight  enough  in 
itself,  but  made  interesting  and  dramatic  by  the  uncon- 
scious enthusiasm  of  the  chief  speaker,  a  young  fellow  of 
indifferent  personal  appearance,  but  with  a  fervid  flow  of 
words  and  a  knack  at  presenting  a  subject  that  reminded 
you  of  the  actor's  power,  and  made  you  as  anxious  to 
watch  his  gesticulations  as  to  hear  the  words  that  accom- 
panied them. 

*'  I  tell  you,"  he  was  saying,  "  that  it  was  just  a  leaf  out 
of  a  play.  I  never  saw  its  equal  off  the  stage.  She  was 
so  handsome,  so  impressive  in  her  trouble  or  anxiety,  or 
whatever  it  Avas  that  agitated  her,  and  he  so  dark,  and  so 
determined  in  his  trouble  or  anxiety,  or  whatever  it  was 
that  agitated  him.  They  came  in  at  different  doors,  she 
at  one  side  of  the  depot  and  he  at  another,  and  they  met 
just  where  I  could  see  them  both^  directly  in  the  centre 
of  the  room.  '  You  ! '  was  her  involuntary  cry,  and  she 
threw  up  her  hands  before  her  face  just  as  if  she  had  seen 
a  ghost  or  a  demon.  An  equal  exclamation  burst  from 
him,  but  he  did  not  cover  his  eyes,  only  stood  and  looked 
at  her  as  if  he  were  turned  to  stone.  In  another  moment 
she  dropped  her  hands.  '  Were  you  coming  to  see  meV 
came  from  her  lips  in  a  whisper  so  fraught  with  secret 
horror  and  anguish  that  it  curdled  my  blood  to  hear  it. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       8/ 

'  Were  you  coming  to  see  me  ?  '  was  his  response,  uttered 
in  an  equally  suppressed  voice  and  with  an  equal  inten- 
sity of  expression.  And  then,  without  either  giving  an 
answer  to  the  other's  question,  they  both  shrank  back, 
and,  turning,  fled  with  distracted  looks,  each  by  the  way 
they  had  come,  the  two  doors  closing  with  a  simultaneous 
bang  that  echoed  through  that  miserable  depot  like  a 
knelj.  There  were  not  many  folks  in  the  room  just  at 
that  minute,  but  I  tell  you  those  that  were  looked  at  each 
other  as  they  had  not  done  before  and  would  not  be 
likely  to  do  again.  Some  unhappy  tragedy  underlies  such 
a  meeting  and  parting,  gentlemen,  and  I  for  one  would 
rather  not  inquire  what." 

"  But  the  girl — the  man — did  n't  you  see  them  again 
before  you  left  ?  "  asked  an  eager  voice  from  the  group. 

"  The  young  lady,"  remarked  the  other,  "  was  on  the 
train  that  brought  me  here.  The  gentleman  went  the 
other  way." 

"  Oh  !  "  "  Ah  !  "  and  "  Where  did  she  get  off  ?  "  rose 
in  a  somewhat  deafening  clamor  around  him. 

"  I  did  not  observe.  She  seemed  greatly  distressed,  if 
not  thoroughly  overcome,  and  observing  her  pull  down 
her  veil,  I  thought  she  did  not  relish  my  inquiring  looks, 
and  as  I  could  not  sit  within  view  of  her  and  not  watch 
her,  I  discreetly  betook  myself  into  the  smoking-car, 
where  I  stayed  till  we  arrived  at  this  place." 

"  Hum  !  "  "  Ha  !  "  "  Curious  !  "  rose  in  chorus  once 
more,   and  then,   the  general  sympathies   of  the    crowd 


88  HAND   AND   RING. 

being  exhausted,  two  or  three  or  more  of  the  group 
sauntered  up  to  the  bar,  and  the  rest  sidled  restlessly  out 
of  the  room,  leaving  the  enthusiastic  speaker  alone  with 
Mr.  Byrd. 

"  A  strange  scene  !  "  exclaimed  the  latter,  infusing  just 
enough  of  seeming  interest  into  his  usually  nonchalant 
tone  to  excite  the  vanity  of  the  person  he  addressed,  and 
make  him  more  than  ever  ready  to  talk.  "  I  wish  I  had 
been  in  your  place,"  continued  Mr.  Byrd,  almost  enthu- 
siastically. "  I  am  sure  I  could  have  made  a  picture  of 
that  scene  that  would  have  been  very  telling  in  the 
gazette  I  draw  for." 

"  Do  you  make  pictures  for  papers  ?  "  the  young  fellow 
inquired,  his  respect  visibly  rising. 

"  Sometimes,"  the  imperturbable  detective  replied,  and 
in  so  doing  told  no  more  than  the  truth.  He  had  a  rare 
talent  for  off-hand  sketching,  and  not  infrequently  made 
use  of  it  to  increase  the  funds  of  the  family. 

"  Well,  that  is  something  I  would  like  to  do,"  acknowl- 
edged the  youth,  surveying  the  other  over  with  curious 
eyes.  "  But  I  hav'  n't  a  cent's  worth  of  talent  for  it.  I 
can  see  a  scene  in  my  mind  now — this  one  for  instance — 
just  as  plain  as  I  can  see  you  ;  all  the  details  of  it,  you 
know,  the  way  they  stood,  the  clothes  they  wore,  the  looks 
on  their  faces,  and  all  that,  but  when  I  try  to  put  it  on 
paper,  why,  I  just  can't,  that  's  all." 

"  Your  forte  lies  another  way,"  Remarked  Mr.  Byrd. 
"  You  can  present  a  scene  so  vividly  that   a  person  who 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  89 

had  not  seen  it  for  himself,  might  easily  put  it  on  paper 
just  from  your  description.  See  now  !  "  And  he  caught 
up  a  sheet  of  paper  from  the  desk  and  carried  it  to  a  side 
table.     "Just  tell  me  what  depot  this  was  in." 

The  young  fellow,  greatly  interested  at  once,  leaned 
over  the  detective's  shoulder  and  eagerly  replied  :  "  The 
depot  at  Syracuse." 

"  Mr.  Byrd  nodded  and  made  a  few  strokes  with  his 
pencil  on  the  paper  before  him. 

"  How  was  the  lady  dressed  ? "  he  next  asked. 

"  In  blue  ;  dark  blue  cloth,  fitting  like  a  glove.  Fine 
figure,  you  know,  very  tall  and  unusually  large,  but  per- 
fect, I  assure  you,  perfect.  Yes,  that  is  very  like  it,"  he 
went  on  watching  the  quick,  assured  strokes  of  the  other 
with  growing  wonder  and  an  unbounded  admiration. 
"You  have  caught  the  exact  poise  of  the  head,  as  I  live, 
and — yes,  a  large  hat  with  two  feathers,  sir,  two  feathers 
drooping  over  the  side,  so  ;  a  bag  on  the  arm  ;  two  floun- 
ces on  the  skirt ;  a — oh  !  the  face  ?  Well,  handsome, 
sir,  very  handsome  ;  straight  nose,  large  eyes,  determined 
mouth,  strong,  violently  agitated  expression.  Well,  I  will 
give  up  !  A  photograph  could  n't  have  done  her  better 
justice.     You  are  a  genius,  sir,  a  genius  !  " 

Mr.  Byrd  received  this  tribute  to  his  skill  with  some 
confusion  and  a  deep  blush,  which  he  vainly  sought  to 
hide  by  bending  lower  over  his  work. 

*'  The  man,  now,"  he  suggested,  with  the  least  percepti- 
ble change  in  his  voice,  that,  however,  escaped  the  alten- 


90  HAND   AND    RING. 

tion  of  his  companion.  "  What  was  he  like  ;  young  or 
old  ?  " 

"  Well,  young — about  twenty-five  I  should  say  ;  me- 
dium height,  but  very  firmly  and  squarely  built,  with  a 
strong  face,  large  mustache,  brilliant  eyes,  and  a  look — I 
cannot  describe  it,  but  you  have  caught  that  of  the  lady 
so  well,  you  will,  doubtless,  succeed  in  getting  his  also." 

But  Mr.  Byrd's  pencil  moved  with  less  certainty  now, 
and  it  was  some  time  before  he  could  catch  even  the  pe- 
culiarly sturdy  aspect  of  the  figure  which  made  this  un- 
known gentleman,  as  the  young  fellow  declared,  look  like 
a  modern  Hercules,  though  he  was  far  from  being  either 
large  or  tall.  The  face,  too,  presented  difficulties  he  was 
far  from  experiencing  in  the  case  of  the  lady,  and  the 
young  fellow  at  his  side  was  obliged  to  make  several  sug- 
gestions such  as: — "  A  little  more  hair  on  the  forehead,  if 
you  please — there  was  quite  a  lock  showing  beneath  his 
hat ;  "  or,  "  A  trifle  less  sharpness  to  the  chin, — so  ;  "  or, 
"  Stay,  you  have  it  too  square  now ;  tone  it  down  a  hair's 
breadth,  and  you  will  get  it,"  before  he  received  even  the 
somewhat  hesitating  acknowledgment  from  the  other  of  : 
"  There,  that  is  something  like  him  !  " 

But  he  had  not  expected  to  succeed  very  well  in  this 
part  of  the  picture,  and  was  sufficiently  pleased  to  have 
gained  a  very  correct  notion  of  the  style  of  clothing  the 
gentleman  wore,  which,  it  is  needless  to  state,  was  most 
faithfully  reproduced  in  the  sketch,  even  if  the  exact 
expression  of  the  strong  and  masculine  face  was  not. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       9I 

"A  really  remarkable  bit  of  work,"  admitted  the  young 
fellow  when  the  whole  was  completed.  "  And  as  true  to 
the  scene,  too,  as  half  the  illustrations  given  in  the  weekly 
papers.  Would  you  mind  letting  me  have  it  as  a  souve- 
nir ?  "  he  eagerly  inquired.  "  I  would  like  to  show  it  to 
a  chap  who  was  with  me  at  the  time.  The  likeness  to  the 
lady  is  wonderful." 

But  Mr.  Byrd,  with  his  most  careless  air,  had  already 
thrust  the  picture  into  his  pocket,  from  which  he  refused 
to  withdraw  it,  saying,  with  an  easy  laugh,  that  it  might 
come  in  play  with  him  some  time,  and  that  he  could  not 
afford  to  part  with  it.  At  which  remark  the  young  fellow 
looked  disappointed  and  vaguely  rattled  some  coins  he 
had  in  his  pocket  ;  but,  meeting  with  no  encouragement 
from  the  other,  forbore  to  press  his  request,  and  turned  it 
into  an  invitation  to  join  him  in  a  social  glass  at  the  bar. 

To  this  slight  token  of  appreciation  Mr.  Byrd  did  not 
choose  to  turn  a  deaf  ear.  So  the  drinks  being  ordered, 
he  proceeded  to  clink  glasses  with  the  youthful  stranger, 
taking  the  opportunity,  at  the  same  time,  of  glancing  over 
to  the  large,  well-built  man  whose  quiet  absorption  in  the 
paper  he  was  reading  had  so  attracted  his  attention  when 
he  first  came  in. 

To  his  surprise  he  found  that  person  just  as  engrossed 
in  the  news  as  ever,  not  a  feature  or  an  eyelash  appearing 
to  have  moved  since  the  time  he  looked  at  him  last. 

Mr.  Byrd  was  so  astonished  at  this  that  when  he  left 
the  room  a  few  minutes  later  he  took  occasion  in  passing 
the  gentleman,  to  glance  at  the  paper  he  was  studying  so 


92  HAND   AND    RING. 

industriously,  and,  to  his  surprise,  found  it  to  be  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  the  advertising  sheet  of  the  New  York 
Herald. 

"  A  fellow  of  my  own  craft,"  was  his  instantaneous  con- 
clusion. But  a  moment's  consideration  assured  him  that 
this  could  not  be,  as  no  detective  worthy  the  name  would 
place  so  little  value  upon  the  understanding  of  those 
about  him  as  to  sit  for  a  half-hour  with  his  eyes  upon  a 
sheet  of  paper  totally  devoid  of  news,  no  matter  what  his 
purpose  might  be,  or  how  great  was  his  interest  in  the  con- 
versation to  which  he  was  secretly  listening.  No  ;  this  gen- 
tleman was  doubtless  what  he  seemed  to  be,  a  mere  stran- 
ger, with  something  of  a  serious  and  engrossing  nature 
upon  his  mind,  or  else  he  was  an  amateur,  who  for  some 
reason  was  acting  the  part  of  a  detective  without  either 
the  skill  or  experience  of  one. 

Whichever  theory  might  be  true,  this  gentleman  was  a 
person  who  at  this  time  and  in  this  place  was  well  worth 
watching :  that  is,  if  a  man  had  any  reason  for  interest- 
ing himself  in  the  pursuit  of  possible  clues  to  the  mystery 
of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  murder.  But  Mr.  Byrd  felt  that  he 
no  longer  possessed  a  professional  right  to  such  interest  ; 
so,  leaving  behind  him  this  fine-looking  gentleman, 
together  with  all  the  inevitable  conjectures  which  the 
latter's  peculiar  manner  had  irresistibly  awakened,  he 
proceeded  to  regain  his  room  and  enter  upon  that  con- 
templation of  the  picture  he  had  just  made,  which  was 
naturally  demanded  by  his  regard  for  one  of  the  persons 
there  depicted. 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  93 

It  was  a  vigorous  sketch,  and  the  slow  blush  crept  up 
and  dyed  Mr.  Byrd's  forehead  as  he  gazed  at  it  and  re- 
alized the  perfection  of  the  likeness  he  had  drawn  of  Miss 
Dare.  Yes,  that  was  her  form,  her  face,  her  expression, 
her  very  self.  She  it  was  and  no  other  who  had  been  the  * 
heroine  of  the  strange  scene  enacted  that  day  in  the 
Syracuse  depot  ;  a  scene  to  which,  by  means  of  this  im- 
promptu sketch,  he  had  now  become  as  nearly  a  witness 
as  any  one  could  hope  for  who  had  not  been  actually  upon 
the  spot.  Strange  !  And  he  had  been  so  anxious  to 
know  what  had  altered  the  mind  of  this  lady  and  sent  her 
back  to  Sibley  before  her  journey  was  half  completed — 
had  pondered  so  long  and  vainly  upon  the  whys  and 
wherefores  of  an  action  whose  motive  he  had  never  ex- 
pected to  understand,  but  which  he  now  saw  suggested  in 
a  scene  that  seriously  whetted,  if  it  did  not  thoroughly 
satisfy,  his  curiosity. 

The  moment  he  had  chosen  to  portray  was  that  in 
which  the  eyes  of  the  two  met  and  their  first  instinctive 
recoil  took  place.  Turning  his  attention  from  the  face 
of  the  lady  and  bestowing  it  upon  that  of  the  man,  he 
perceived  there  the  horror  and  shrinking  which  he  had 
imprinted  so  successfully  upon  hers.  That  the  expression 
was  true,  though  the  countenance  was  not,  he  had  no 
doubt.  The  man,  whatever  his  name,  nature,  calling,  or 
history,  recoiled  from  a  meeting  with  Imogene  Dare  as 
passionately  as  she  did  from  one  with  him.  Both  had 
started  from  home  with  a  simultaneous  intention  of  seek- 
ing the  other,  and  yet,  at  the   first   recognition   of  this 


94  HAND   AND   RING. 

fact,  both  had  started  and  drawn  back  as  if  death  rather 
than  life  had  confronted  them  in  each  other's  faces. 
What  did  it  mean  ?  What  secret  of  a  deep  and  deadly- 
nature  could  lie  between  these  two,  that  a  scene  of  such 
evident  import  could  take  place  between  them  ?  He 
dared  not  think  ;  he  could  do  nothing  but  gaze  upon  the 
figure  of  the  man  he  had  portrayed,  and  wonder  if  he 
would  be  able  to  identify  the  original  in  case  he  ever  met 
him.  The  face  was  more  or  less  a  failure,  of  course,  but 
the  form,  the  cut  of  the  clothes,  the  manner  of  carriage, 
and  the  general  aspect  of  strong  and  puissant  manhood 
which  distinguished  the  whole  figure,  could  not  be  so  far 
from  correct  but  that,  with  a  hint  from  surrounding  cir- 
cumstances, he  would  know  the  man  himself  when  he  saw 
him.  At  all  events,  he  meant  to  imprint  the  possible 
portrait  upon  his  mind  in  case in  case  what  ?  Paus- 
ing he  asked  himself  this  question  with  stern  determina- 
tion, and  could  find  no  answer. 

"  I  will  burn  the  sketch  at  once,  and  think  of  it  and  her 
no  more,"  he  muttered,  half-rising. 

But  he  did  not  do  it.  Some  remembrance  crossed  his 
mind  of  what  the  young  fellow  downstairs  had  said  about 
retaining  it  as  a  souvenir,  and  he  ended  in  folding  it  up 
and  putting  it  away  somewhat  carefully  in  his  memoran- 
dum-book, with  a  vow  that  he  would  leave  Sibley  and  its 
troublous  mystery  at  the  first  moment  of  release  that  he 
could  possibly  obtain.  The  pang  which  this  decision  cost 
him  convinced  him  that  it  was  indeed  high  time  he 
did  so. 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  95 


VII. 


MISS    FIRMAN. 

I  confess  with  all  humility  that  at  times  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
truth  and  fiction  is  rendered  so  indetinite  and  indistinct,  that  I  cannot  always 
determine,  with  unerring  certainty,  wliether  an  event  really  happened  to  me, 
or  whether  I  only  dreamed  it. — Longfellow. 

MR.  BYRD,  upon  waking  next  morning,  found 
himself  disturbed  by  a  great  perplexity.  Were 
the  words  then  ringing  in  his  ears,  real  words,  which  he 
had  overheard  spoken  outside  of  his  door  some  time  dur- 
ing the  past  night,  or  were  they  merely  the  empty  utter- 
ances of  a  more  than  usually  vivid  dream  ? 

He  could  not  tell.  He  could  remember  the  very  tone 
of  voice  in  which  he  fancied  them  to  have  been  spoken — 
a  tone  which  he  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  as  that 
of  the  landlord  of  the  hotel  ;  could  even  recall  the  faint 
sounds  of  bustle  which  accompanied  them,  as  though  the 
person  using  them  had  been  showing  another  person 
through  the  hall ;  but  beyond  that,  all  was  indistinct  and 
dream-like. 

The  words  were  these  : 

"Glad  to  see  you  back,  sir.  This  murder  following  so 
close  upon  your  visit  must  have  been  a  great  surprise.  A 
sad  occurrence,  that,  sir,  and  a  very  mysterious  one. 
Hope  you  have  some  information  to  give." 

"  If  it  is  a  remembrance  and  such  words  were  uttered 


96  HAND   AND   RING. 

outside  of  my  door  last  night,"  argued  the  young  detec- 
tive to  himself,  "  the  guest  who  called  them  forth  can  be 
no  other  than  the  tall  and  florid  gentleman  whom  I  en- 
countered in  the  bar-room.  But  is  it  a  remembrance,  or 
only  a  chimera  of  my  own  overwrought  brain  struggling 
with  a  subject  it  will  not  let  drop  ?  As  Shakespeare 
says,  '  That  is  the  question  !  '  " 

Fortunately,  it  was  not  one  which  it  behooved  him  to 
decide.  So,  for  the  twentieth  time,  he  put  the  subject  by 
and  resolved  to  think  of  it  no  more. 

But  perplexities  of  this  kind  are  not  so  easily  dismissed, 
and  more  than  once  during  his  hurried  and  solitary  break- 
fast, did  he  ask  himself  whether,  in  case  the  words  were 
real,  he  had  not  found  in  the  landlord  of  this  very  hotel 
the  one  witness  for  which  the  coroner  was  so  diligently 
seeking. 

A  surprise  awaited  him  after  breakfast,  in  the  sudden 
appearance  at  his  room  door  of  the  very  gentleman  last 
alluded  to. 

"  Ha,  Byrd,"  said  he,  with  cheerful  vivacity  :  "here  is  a 
line  from  the  superintendent  which  may  prove  interesting 
to  you." 

And  with  a  complacent  smile.  Dr.  Tredwell  handed 
over  a  letter  which  had  been  brought  to  him  by  the 
detective  who  had  that  morning  arrived  from  New  York. 

With  a  dim  sense  of  foreboding  which  he  would  have 
found  difficult  to  explain,  Mr.  Byrd  opened  the  note 
and  read  the  following  words  : 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       97 

Dear  Sir, — I  send  with  this  a  man  fully  competent  to  conduct  a 
case  of  any  ordinary  difficulty.  I  acknowledge  it  is  for  our  interest 
that  you  employ  him  to  the  exclusion  of  the  person  mentioned  in  your 
letter.  But  if  you  or  that  person  think  that  he  can  render  you  any 
real  assistance  by  his  interference,  he  is  at  liberty  to  act  in  his 
capacity  of  detective  in  as  far  as  he  can  do  so  without  divulging  too 
widely  the  secret  of  his  connection  with  the  force. . 

"  The  superintendent  need  not  be  concerned,"  said  Mr. 
Byrd,  returning  the  note  with  a  constrained  bow.  "  I 
shall  not  interfere  in  this  matter." 

"You  will  miss  a  good  thing,  then,"  remarked  the 
coroner,  shortly,  looking  keenly  at  the  young  man. 

"  I  cannot  help  it,"  observed  the  other,  with  a  quick 
sigh  of  impatience  or  regret.  "  I  should  have  to  see  my 
duty  very  clearly  and  possess  the  very  strongest  reasons 
for  interfering  before  I  presumed  to  offer  either  advice  or 
assistance  after  a  letter  of  this  kind." 

"  And  who  knows  but  what  such  reasons  may  yet  pre- 
sent themselves  ? "  ventured  the  coroner.  Then  seeing 
the  young  man  shake  his  head,  made  haste  to  add  in  the 
business-like  tone  of  one  preparing  to  take  his  leave, 
"  At  all  events  the  matter  stands  open  for  the  present  ; 
and  if  during  the  course  of  to-day's  inquiry  you  see  fit 
to  change  your  mind,  it  will  be  easy  enough  for  you  to 
notify  me."  And  without  waiting  for  any  further  remon- 
strance, he  gave  a  quick  nod  and  passed  hastily  out. 

The  state  of  mind  in  which  he  left  Mr.  Byrd  was  any 
thing  but  enviable.  Not  that  the  young  man's  former 
determination  to  let  this  matter  alone  had  been  in  any 


98  HAND   AND   RING. 

wise  shaken  by  the  unexpected  concession  on  the  part  of 
the  superintendent,  but  that  the  final  hint  concerning  the 
inquest  had  aroused  his  old  interest  to  quite  a  formidable 
degree,  and,  what  was  worse,  had  reawakened  certain 
feelings  which  since  last  night  it  had  been  his  most 
earnest  endeavor  to  subdue.  He  felt  like  a  man  pursued 
by  an  implacable  fate,  and  dimly  wondered  whether  he 
would  be  allowed  to  escape  before  it  was  too  late  to  save 
himself  from  lasting  uneasiness,  if  not  lifelong  regret. 

A  final  stroke  of  business  for  Mr.  Ferris  kept  him  at 
the  court-house  most  of  the  morning  ;  but  his  duty  in 
that  direction  being  at  an  end,  he  no  longer  found  any 
excuse  for  neglecting  the  task  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
coroner.  He  accordingly  proceeded  to  the  cottage  where 
the  inquest  was  being  held,  and  finding  each  and  every 
available  room  there  packed  to  its  uttermost  by  interested 
spectators,  took  up  his  stand  on  the  outside  of  a  curtained 
window,  where  with  but  a  slight  craning  of  his  neck  he 
could  catch  a  very  satisfactory  view  of  the  different  wit- 
nesses as  they  appeared  before  the  jury.  The  day  was 
warm  and  he  was  by  no  means  uncomfortable,  though  he 
could  have  wished  that  the  advantages  of  his  position  had 
occasioned  less  envy  in  the  breasts  of  the  impatient  crowd 
that  was  slowly  gathering  at  his  back  ;  or,  rather,  that 
their  sense  of  these  advantages  might  have  been  expressed 
in  some  more  pleasing  way  than  by  the  various  pushes  he 
received  from  the  more  or  less  adventurous  spirits  who 
endeavored  to  raise  themselves  over  his  shoulder  or  insin- 
uate themselves  under  his  arms.      "'*'■■ 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.       99 

The  room  into  which  he  looked  was  the  sitting-room, 
and  it  was,  so  far  as  he  could  judge  in  the  first  casual 
glance  he  threw  into  it,  occupied  entirely  by  strangers. 
This  was  a  relief.  Since  it  had  become  his  duty  to 
attend  this  inquiry,  he  wished  to  do  so  with  a  free  mind, 
unhindered  by  the  watchfulness  of  those  who  knew  his 
interest  in  the  affair,  or  by  the  presence  of  persons  around 
whom  his  own  imagination  had  involuntarily  woven  a  net- 
work of  suspicion  that  made  his  observation  of  them  at 
once  significant  and  painful. 

The  proceedings  were  at  a  standstill  when  he  first  came 
upon  the  scene. 

A  witness  had  just  stepped  aside,  who,  from  the  impa- 
tient shrugs  of  many  persons  present,  had  evidently  added 
little  if  any  thing  to  the  testimony  already  given.  Taking 
advantage  of  the  moment,  Mr.  Byrd  leaned  forward  and 
addressed  a  burly  man  who  sat  directly  under  him. 

"What  have  they  been  doing  all  the  morning?"  he 
asked.     "  Any  thing  important  ?  " 

"No,"  was  the  surly  reply.  "A  score  of  folks  have 
had  their  say,  but  not  one  of  them  has  told  any  thing 
worth  listening  to.  Nobody  has  seen  any  thing,  nobody 
knows  any  thing.  The  murderer  might  have  risen  up 
through  the  floor  to  deal  his  blow,  and  having  given  it, 
sunk  back  again  with  the  same  supernatural  claptrap,  for 
all  these  stupid  people  seem  to  know  about  him." 

The  man  had  a  loud  voice,  and  as  he  made  no  attempt 
to  modulate  it,  his  words  were  heard  on  all  sides.     Natu- 


100  HAND   AND    RING. 

rally  many  heads  were  turned  toward  him,  and  more  than 
one  person  looked  at  him  with  an  amused  smile.  Indeed, 
of  all  the  various  individuals  in  his  immediate  vicinity, 
only  one  forbore  to  take  any  notice  of  his  remark.  This 
was  a  heavy,  lymphatic,  and  somewhat  abstracted-looking 
fellow  of  nondescript  appearance,  who  stood  stiff  and 
straight  as  an  exclamation  point  against  the  jamb  of  the 
door-way  that  led  into  the  front  hall. 

"  But  have  no  facts  been  obtained,  no  conclusions 
reached,  that  would  serve  to  awaken  suspicion  or  put 
justice  on  the  right  track?"  pursued  Mr.  Byrd,  lowering 
his  voice  in  intimation  for  the  other  to  do  the  same. 

But  that  other  was  of  an  obstinate  tendency,  and  his 
reply  rose  full  and  loud. 

"  No,  unless  it  can  be  considered  proved  that  it  is  only 
folly  to  try  and  find  out  who  commits  a  crime  in  these 
days.  Nothing  else  has  come  to  light,  as  far  as  I  can  see, 
and  that  much  we  all  knew  before." 

A  remark  of  this  kind  was  not  calculated  to  allay  the 
slight  inclination  to  mirth  which  his  former  observation 
had  raised  ;  but  the  coroner  rapping  with  his  gavel  on 
the  table  at  this  moment,  every  other  consideration  was 
lost  in  the  natural  curiosity  which  every  one  felt  as  to  who 
the  next  witness  would  be. 

But  the  coroner  had  something  to  say  before  he  called 
for  further  testimony. 

"Gentlemen,"  he  remarked,  in  a  clear  and  commanding 
tone  that  at  once  secured  attention  and  awakened  inter- 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  IQI 

est,  "  we  have  spent  the  morning  in  examining  the  per- 
sons who  live  in  this  street,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining, 
if  possible,  who  was  in  conversation  with  Mrs.  Clemmens 
at  the  time  the  tramp  went  up  to  her  door." 

Was  it  a  coincidence,  or  was  there  something  in  the 
words  themselves  that  called  forth  the  stir  that  at  this 
moment  took  place  among  the  people  assembled  directly 
before  Mr.  Byrd  ?  It  was  of  the  slightest  character,  and 
was  merely  momentary  in  its  duration  ;  nevertheless,  it 
attracted  his  attention,  especially  as  it  seemed  to  have  its 
origin  in  a  portion  of  the  room  shut  off  from  his  observa- 
tion by  the  corner  of  the  wall  already  alluded  to. 

The  coroner  proceeded  without  pause. 

"  The  result,  as  you  know,  has  not  been  satisfactory. 
No  one  seems  to  be  able  to  tell  us  who  it  was  that  visited 
Mrs.  Clemmens  on  that  day.  I  now  propose  to  open 
another  examination  of  a  totally  different  character, 
which  I  hope  may  be  more  conclusive  in  its  results. 
Miss  Firman,  are  you  prepared  to  give  your  testimony  ? " 

Immediately  a  tall,  gaunt,  but  pleasant-faced  woman 
arose  from  the  dim  recesses  of  the  parlor.  She  was 
dressed  with  decency,  if  not  taste,  and  took  her  stand 
before  the  jury  with  a  lady-like  yet  perfectly  assured 
air  that  promised  well  for  the  correctness  and  discretion 
of  her  answers.     The  coroner  at  once  addressed  her. 

"  Your  full  name,  madam  ?  " 

"  Emily  Letitia  Firman,  sir." 

"  Emily  !  "    ejaculated    Mr.   Byrd,  to   himself,  with   a 


102  HAND   AND    RING. 

throb  of  sudden  interest.  "That  is  the  name  of  the 
murdered  woman's  correspondent." 

"  Your  birthplace,"  pursued  the  coroner,  "  and  the 
place  of  your  present  residence  ?  " 

"  I  was  born  in  Danbury,  Connecticut,"  was  the  reply, 
"  and  I  am  living  in  Utica,  where  I  support  my  aged 
mother  by  dress-making." 

"  How  are  you  related  to  Mrs.  Clemmens,  the  lady  who 
was  found  murdered  here  two  days  ago  ? " 

"  I  am  her  second  cousin  ;  her  grandmother  and  my 
mother  were  sisters." 

"  Upon  what  terms  have  you  always  lived,  and  what 
can  you  tell  us  of  her  other  relatives  and  connections  ?  " 

**  We  have  always  been  friends,  and  I  can  tell  you  all 
that  is  generally  known  of  the  two  or  three  remaining 
persons  of  her  blood  and  kindred.  They  are,  first,  my 
mother  and  myself,  who,  as  I  have  before  said,  live  in 
Utica,  where  I  am  connected  with  the  dress-making 
establishment  of  Madame  Trebelle ;  and,  secondly,  a 
nephew  of  hers,  the  son  of  a  favorite  brother,  whom  she 
has  always  supported,  and  to  whom  she  has  frequently 
avowed  her  intention  of  leaving  her  accumulated  savings." 

"  The  name  of  this  gentleman  and  his  place  of  resi- 
dence ?  " 

"  His  name  is  Mansell — Craik  Mansell — and  he  lives 
in  Buffalo,  where  he  has  a  situation  of  some  trust  in  the 
large  paper  manufactory  of  Harrison,  Goodman,  & 
Chamberlin." 


THE   GENTLEMAN    FROM   TOLEDO.  IO3 

Buffalo  !  Mr.  Byrd  gave  an  involuntary  start,  and  be- 
came, if  possible,  doubly  attentive. 

The  coroner's  questions  went  on. 

"  Do  you  know  this  young  man  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  He  has  been  several  times  to  our  house  in 
the  course  of  the  last  five  years." 

"  What  can  you  tell  us  of  his  nature  and  disposition, 
as  well  as  of  his  regard  for  the  woman  who  proposed  to 
benefit  him  so  materially  by  her  will  ?  " 

"Well,  sir,"  returned  Miss  Firman,  "  it  is  hard  to  read 
the  nature  and  feelings  of  any  man  who  has  much  char- 
acter, and  Craik  Mansell  has  a  good  deal  of  character. 
But  I  have  always  thought  him  a  very  honest  and  capable 
young  man,  who  might  do  us  credit  some  day,  if  he  were 
allowed  to  have  his  own  way  and  not  be  interfered  with 
too  much.  As  for  his  feelings  toward  his  aunt,  they  were 
doubtless  those  of  gratitude,  though  I  have  never  heard 
him  express  himself  in  any  very  affectionate  terms  toward 
her,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  a  natural  reticence  of  disposition 
which  has  been  observable  in  him  from  childhood." 

"  You  have,  however,  no  reason  to  believe  he  cherished 
any  feelings  of  animosity  toward  his  benefactress?"  con- 
tinued the  coroner,  somewhat  carelessly,  "  or  possessed 
any  inordinate  desire  after  the  money  she  was  expecting 
to  leave  him  at  her  death  ?" 

"  No,  sir.  Both  having  minds  of  their  own,  they  fre- 
quently disagreed,  especially  on  business  matters  ;  but 
there  was  never  any  bitterness  between  them,  as  far  as  I 


I04  HAND   AND   RING. 

know,  and  I  never  heard  him  say  any  thing  about  his  ex- 
pectations one  way  or  the  other.  He  is  a  man  of  much 
natural  force,  of  strong,  if  not  violent,  traits  of  character  ; 
but  he  has  too  keen  a  sense  of  his  own  dignity  to  in- 
timate the  existence  of  desires  so  discreditable  to  him." 

There  was  something  in  .this  reply  and  the  impartial 
aspect  of  the  lady  delivering  it  that  was  worthy  of  notice, 
perhaps.  And  such  it  would  have  undoubtedly  received 
from  Mr.  Byrd,  at  least,  if  the  words  she  had  used  in 
characterizing  this  person  had  not  struck  him  so  deeply 
that  he  forgot  to  note  any  thing  further. 

"A  man  of  great  natural  force — of  strong,  if  not 
violent  traits  of  character,"  he  kept  repeating  to  himself. 
"  The  description,  as  I  live,  of  the  person  whose  picture  I 
attempted  to  draw  last  night." 

And,  ignoring  every  thing  else,  he  waited  with  almost 
sickening  expectation  for  the  question  that  would  link 
this  nephew  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  either  to  the  tragedy 
itself,  or  to  that  person  still  in  the  background,  of  whose 
secret  connection  with  a  man  of  this  type,  he  had 
obtained  so  curious  and  accidental  a  knowledge. 
I  But  it  did  not  come.  With  a  quiet  abandonment  of  the 
by  no  means  exhausted  topic,  which  convinced  Mr.  Byrd 
that  the  coroner  had  plans  and  suspicions  to  which 
the  foregoing  questions  had  given  no  clue.  Dr.  Tredwell 
leaned  slowly  forward,  and,  after  surveying  the  witness 
with  a  glance  of  cautious  inquiry,  asked  in  a  way  to  con- 
centrate the  attention  of  all  present  ; 


THE   GENTLEMAN    FROM   TOLEDO.  105 

**  You  say  that  you  knew  the  Widow  Clemmens  well ; 
that  you  have  always  been  on  friendly  terms  with  her, 
and  are  acquainted  with  her  affairs.  Does  that  mean  you 
have  been  made  a  confidante  of  her  troubles,  her  responsi- 
bilities, and  her  cares  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  that  is,  in  as  far  as  she  ever  made  a  con- 
fidant of  any  one.  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  not  of  a  complain- 
ing disposition,  neither  was  she  by  nature  very  communi- 
cative. Only  at  rare  times  did  she  make  mention  of 
herself  or  her  troubles  :  but  when  she  did,  it  was  invaria- 
bly to  me,  sir — or  so  she  used  to  say  ;  and  she  was 
not  a  woman  to  deceive  you  in  such  matters." 

"Very  well,  then,  you  are  in  a  position  to  tell  us  some- 
thing of  her  history,  and  why  it  is  she  kept  herself  so 
close  after  she  came  to  this  town  ? " 

But  Miss  Firman  uttered  a  vigorous  disclaimer  to  this. 
"  No,  sir,"  said  she,  "  I  am  not.  Mrs.  Clemmens*  history 
was  simple  enough,  but  her  reasons  for  living  as  she  did 
have  never  been  explained.  She  was  not  naturally  a 
quiet  woman,  and,  when  a  girl,  was  remarkable  for 
her  spirits  and  fondness  for  company." 

"  Has  she  had  any  great  sorrow  since  you  knew  her — 
any  serious  loss  or  disappointment  that  may  have  soured 
her  disposition,  and  turned  her,  as  it  were,  against 
the  world  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  ;  she  felt  the  death  of  her  husband  very 
much — indeed,  has  never  been  quite  the  same  since 
she  lost  him." 


lo6  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  And  when  was  that,  if  you  please  ? " 

"  Full  fifteen  years  ago,  sir ;  just  before  she  came 
to  this  town." 

"  Did  you  know  Mr.  Clemmens  ?  " 

"  No,  sir  ;  none  of  us  knew  him.  They  were  married  in 
some  small  village  out  West,  where  he  died — well,  I  think 
she  wrote — a  month  if  not  less  after  their  marriage.  She 
was  inconsolable  for  a  time,  and,  though  she  consented  to 
come  East,  refused  to  take  up  her  abode  with  any  of 
her  relatives,  and  so  settled  in  this  place,  where  she 
has  remained  ever  since." 

The  manner  of  the  coroner  suddenly  changed  to  one  of 
great  impressiveness. 

"  Miss  Firman,"  he  now  asked,  "  did  it  ever  strike  you 
that  the  hermit  life  she  led  was  due  to  any  fear  or  appre- 
hension which  she  may  have  secretly  entertained  ? " 

"Sir?" 

The  question  was  peculiar  and  no  one  wondered  at  the 
start  which  the  good  woman  gave.  But  what  mainly 
struck  Mr.  Byrd,  and  gave  to  the  moment  a  seeming 
importance,  was  the  fact  that  she  was  not  alone  in  her 
surprise  or  even  her  expression  of  it ;  that  the  indefinable 
stir  he  had  before  observed  had  again  taken  place  in  the 
crowd  before  him,  and  that  this  time  there  was  no  doubt 
about  its  having  been  occasioned  by  the  movements  of  a 
person  whose  elbow  he  could  just  perceive  projecting 
beyond  the  door-way  that  led  into  the  hall. 

But  there  was  no  time  for  speculation  as  to  whom  this 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  10/ 

person  might  be.  The  coroner's  questions  were  every 
moment  growing  more  rapid,  and  Miss  Firman's  answers 
more  interesting. 

"  I  asked,"  here  the  coroner  was  heard  to  say,  "  whether, 
in  your  intercourse  with  Mrs.  Clemmens,  you  have  ever 
had  reason  to  suppose  she  was  the  victim  of  any  secret 
or  personal  apprehension  that  might  have  caused  her 
to  seclude  herself  as  she  did  ?  Or  let  me  put  it  in  another 
way.  Can  you  tell  me  whether  you  know  of  any  other 
person  besides  this  nephew  of  hers  who  is  likely  to 
be  benefited  by  Mrs.  Clemmens'  death  ?  " 

"Oh,  sir,"  was  the  hasty  and  somewhat  excited  reply, 
"you  mean  young  Mr.  Hildreth  !  " 

The  way  in  which  this  was  said,  together  with  the 
slight  flush  of  satisfaction  or  surprise  which  rose  to  the 
coroner's  brow,  naturally  awoke  the  slumbering  excite- 
ment of  the  crowd  and  made  a  small  sensation,  A  low 
murmur  ran  through  the  rooms,  amid  which  Mr.  Byrd 
thought  he  heard  a  suppressed  but  bitter  exclamation. 
He  could  not  be  sure  of  it,  however,  and  had  just  made 
up  his  mind  that  his  ears  had  deceived  him,  when  his 
attention  was  attracted  by  a  shifting  in  the  position  of 
the  sturdy,  thick-set  man  who  had  been  leaning  against 
the  opposite  wall,  but  who  now  crossed  and  took  his  stand 
beside  the  jamb,  on  the  other  side  of  which  sat  the  un- 
known individual  toward  whom  so  many  inquiring 
glances  had  hitherto  been  directed. 

The  quietness  with  which  this  change  was  made,  and 


I08  HAND   AND    RING. 

the  slight,  almost  imperceptible,  alteration  in  the  manner 
of  the  person  making  it,  brought  a  sudden  enlightenment 
to  Mr.  Byrd,  and  he  at  once  made  up  his  mind  that  this 
dull,  abstracted-looking  nonentity  leaning  with  such  ap- 
parent unconcern  against  the  wall,  was  the  new  detective 
who  had  been  sent  up  that  morning  from  New  York. 
His  curiosity  in  regard  to  the  identity  of  the  individual 
round  the  corner  was  not  lessened  by  this. 

Meantime  the  coroner  had  answered  the  hasty  ex- 
clamation of  the  witness,  by  disclaiming  the  existence  of 
any  special  meaning  of  his  own,  and  had  furthermore 
pressed  the  question  as  to  who  this  Mr.  Hildreth  was. 

She  immediately  answered  :  "  A  gentleman  of  Toledo, 
sir  ;  a  young  man  who  could  only  come  into  his  property 
by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Clemmens." 

"  How  ?  You  have  not  spoken  of  any  such  person  as 
connected  with  her." 

"  No,"  was  her  steady  response  ;  "  nor  was  he  so  con- 
nected by  any  tie  of  family  or  friendship.  Indeed,  I  do 
not  know  as  they  were  ever  acquainted,  or,  as  for  that 
matter,  ever  saw  each  other's  faces.  The  fact  to  which  I 
allude  was  simply  the  result  of  a  will,  sir,  n'^de  by  Mr. 
Hildreth's  grandfather." 

"  A  will  ?    Explain  yourself.     I  do  not  understand," 

"Well,  sir,  I  do  not  know  much  about  the  law,  and 
may  make  a  dozen  mistakes  in  telling  you  what  you  wish 
to  know  ;  but  what  I  understand  about  the  matter  is  this  : 
Mr.  Hildreth,  the  grandfather  of  the  gentleman  of  whom 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      109 

I  have  just  spoken,  having  a  large  property,  which  he 
wanted  to  leave  in  bulk  to  his  grandchildren, — their 
father  being  a  very  dissipated  and  reckless  man, — made 
his  will  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  its  distribution 
among  his  heirs  till  after  the  death  of  two  persons  whom 
he  mentioned  by  name.  Of  these  two  persons  one  was 
the  son  of  his  head  clerk,  a  young  boy,  who  sickened  and 
died  shortly  after  Mr.  Hildreth  himself,  and  the  other  my 
cousin,  the  poor  murdered  woman,  who  was  then  a  little 
girl  visiting  the  family.  I  do  not  know  how  she  came  to 
be  chosen  by  him  for  this  purpose,  unless  it  was  that  she 
was  particularly  round  and  ruddy  as  a  child,  and  looked 
as  if  she  might  live  for  many  years." 

"And  the  Hildreths  ?  What  of  them  during  these 
years  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  cannot  exactly  say,  as  I  never  had  any  ac- 
quaintance with  them  myself.  But  I  know  that  the 
father,  whose  dissipated  habits  were  the  cause  of  this 
peculiar  will  tying  up  the  property,  died  some  little  time 
ago  ;  also  one  or  two  of  his  children,  but  beyond  that  I 
know  little,  except  that  the  remaining  heirs  are  a  young 
gentleman  and  one  or  two  young  girls,  all  of  the  worldli- 
est and  most  fashionable  description." 

The  coroner,  who  had  followed  all  this  with  the  great- 
est interest,  now  asked  if  she  knew  the  first  name  of  the 
young  gentleman. 

'*  Yes,"  said  she,  "  I  do.     It  is  Gouverneur." 

The   coroner    gave    a    satisfied    nod,    and    remarked 


I  lO  HAND    AND    RING. 

casually,  "  It  is  not  a  common  name,"  and  then,  leaning 
forward,  selected  a  paper  from  among  several  that  lay  on 
the  table  before  him.  "  Miss  Firman,"  he  inquired,  re- 
taining this  paper  in  his  hand,  "  do  you  know  when  it 
was  that  Mrs.  Clemmens  first  became  acquainted  with 
the  fact  of  her  name  having  been  made  use  of  in  the 
elder  Mr.  Hildreth's  will  ?  " 

"  Oh,  years  ago  ;  when  she  first  came  of  age,  I  be- 
lieve." 

"  Was  it  an  occasion  of  regret  to  her  ?  Did  she  ever 
express  herself  as  sorry  for  the  position  in  which  she 
stood  toward  this  family  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir  ;  she  did." 

The  coroner's  face  assumed  a  yet  greater  gravity,  and 
his  manner  became  more  and  more  impressive. 

"  Can  you  go  a  step  farther  and  say  that  she  ever 
acknowledged  herself  to  have  cherished  apprehensions 
of  her  personal  safety,  during  these  years  of  weary  wait- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  naturally  impatient  heirs  ?  " 

A  distressed  look  crossed  the  amiable  spinster's  face, 
and  she  looked  around  at  the  jury  with  an  expression 
almost  deprecatory  in  its  nature. 

"I  scarcely  know  what  answer  to  give,"  she  hesitatingly- 
declared.  "  It  is  a  good  deal  to  say  that  she  was  appre- 
hensive ;  but  I  cannot  help  remembering  that  she  once 
told  me  her  peace  of  mind  had  left  her  since  she  knew 
there  were  persons  in  the  world  to  whom  her  death  would 
be  a  matter  of  rejoicing.     *  It  makes  me  feel  as  if  I  were 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  Ill 

keeping  people  out  of  their  rights,'  she  remarked  at  the 
same  time.  '  And,  though  it  is  not  my  fault,  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  some  day  I  had  to  suffer  for  it.'  " 

"  Was  there  ever  any  communication  made  to  Mrs. 
Clemmens  by  persons  cognizant  of  the  relation  in  which 
she  stood  to  these  Hildreths? — or  any  facts  or  gossip 
detailed  to  her  concerning  them,  that  would  seem  to  give 
color  to  her  fears  and  supply  her  with  any  actual  grounds 
for  her  apprehensions  ?  " 

"  No  ;  only  such  tales  as  came  to  her  of  their  expen- 
sive ways  of  living  and  somewhat  headlong  rush  into  all 
fashionable  freaks  and  follies." 

"  And  Gouverneur  Hildreth  ?  Any  special  gossip  in 
regard  to  him  ?  " 

"  No  !  " 

There  are  some  noes  that  are  equivalent  to  affirma- 
tions. This  was  one  of  them.  Naturally  the  coroner 
pressed  the  question. 

"I  must  request  you  to  think  again,"  he  persisted. 
Then,  with  a  change  of  voice  :  "Are  you  sure  you  have 
never  heard  any  thing  specially  derogatory  to  this  young 
man,  or  that  Mrs.  Clemmens  had  not  ?  " 

"  I  have  friends  in  Toledo  who  speak  of  him  as  the 
fastest  man  about  town,  if  that  could  be  called  deroga- 
tory. As  for  Mrs.  Clemmens,  she  may  have  heard  as 
much,  and  she  may  have  heard  more,  I  cannot  say.  I 
know  she  always  frowned  when  his  father's  name  was 
mentioned." 


1  12  HAND   AND    RING. 

"Miss  Firman,"  jjioceeded  the  coroner,  "in  the  long 
years  in  which  you  have  been  more  or  less  separated 
from  ]\Irs.  Clemmens,  you  have,  doubtless,  kept  up  a 
continued  if  not  frequent  correspondence  with  her  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Do  you  think,  from  the  commencement  and  general 
tone  of  this  letter,  which  I  found  lying  half  finished 
on  her  desk,  that  it  was  written  and  intended  for  your- 
self ?  " 

Taking  the  letter  from  his  outstretched  hand,  she 
fumbled  nervously  for  her  glasses,  put  them  on,  and 
then  glanced  hurriedly  at  the  sheet,  saying  as  she  did 
so  : 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  it.  She  had  no  other 
friend  whom  she  would  have  been  likely  to  address  as 
'Dear  Emily.'  " 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  you  have  a  right  to  hear  the 
words  written  by  the  deceased  but  a  few  hours,  if  not  a 
few  minutes,  previous  to  the  brutal  assault  that  has  led  to 
the  present  inquiry.  Miss  Firman,  as  the  letter  was  in- 
tended for  yourself,  will  you  be  kind  enough  to  read  it 
aloud,  after  which  you  will  hand  it  over  to  the  jury." 

With  a  gloomy  shake  of  her  head,  and  a  certain  trem- 
bling in  her  voice,  that  was  due,  perhaps,  as  much  to 
the  sadness  of  her  task  as  to  any  foreboding  of  the  real 
nature  of  the  words  she  had  to  read,  she  proceeded  to 
comply  : 

"  Dear  Emily  : — I  don't  know  why  I  sit  down  to  write  to  you 
to-day.     I  have  plenty  to  do,  and  morning  is  no  time  for  indulging 


THE   GENTLEMAN    FROM   TOLEDO.  II3 

in  sentimentalities.  But  I  feel  strangely  lonely  and  strangely  anxious. 
Nothing  goes  just  to  my  mind,  and  somehow  the  many  causes  for 
secret  fear  which  I  have  always  had,  assume  an  undue  prominence  in 
my  mind.  It  is  always  so  when  I  am  not  quite  well.  In  vain  I 
reason  with  myself,  saying  that  respectable  people  do  not  lightly 
enter  into  crime.  But  there  are  so  many  to  whom  my  death  would 
be  more  than  welcome,  that  I  constantly  see  myself  in  the  act  of 
being 

"  Good  heavens  !  "  ejaculated  the  spinster,  dropping 
the  paper  from  her  hand  and  looking  dismally  around 
upon  the  assembled  faces  of  the  now  deeply  interested 
spectators. 

Seeing  her  dismay,  a  man  who  stood  at  the  right  of  the 
coroner,  and  who  seemed  to  be  an  officer  of  the  law, 
quietly  advanced,  and  picking  up  the  paper  she  had  let 
fall,  handed  it  to  the  jury.  The  coroner  meanwhile 
recalled  her  attention  to  herself. 

"  Miss  Firman,"  said  he,  "  allow  me  to  put  to  you  one 
final  question  which,  though  it  might  not  be  called  a 
strictly  legal  one,  is  surely  justified  by  the  gravity  of  the 
situation.  If  Mrs.  Clemmens  had  finished  this  letter,  and 
you  in  due  course  had  received  it,  what  conclusion 
would  you  have  drawn  from  the  words  you  have  just 
read  ?  " 

"  I  could  have  drawn  but  one,  sir.  I  should  have  con- 
sidered that  tne  solitary  life  led  by  my  cousin  was  telling 
upon  her  mind." 

"  But  these  terrors  of  which  she  speaks  ?  To  what  and 
whom  would  you  have  attributed  them  ?  " 

"  I   don't  like  to   say  it,  and  I   don't  know  as  I  am 


114  HAND   AND   RING. 

justified  in  saying  it,  but  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  me,  under  the  circumstances,  to  have  thought  of  any 
other  source  for  them  than  the  one  we  have  already 
mentioned." 

"  And  that  is  ?  "  inexorably  pursued  the  coroner.  ' 

"  Mr.  Gouverneur  Hildreth." 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.  II5 


VIII. 

THE    THICK-SET    MAN. 
Springs  to  catch  woodcocks. — Hamlet. 

N  the  pause  that  followed,  Miss  Firman  stepped 
aside,  and  Mr.  Byrd,  finding  his  attention  released, 
stole  a  glance  toward  the  hall- way  and  its  nearly  concealed 
occupant.  He  found  the  elbow  in  agitated  movement, 
and,  as  he  looked  at  it,  saw  it  disappear  and  a  hand  pro- 
ject into  view,  groping  for  the  handkerchief  which  was, 
doubtless,  hidden  in  the  hat  which  he  now  perceived 
standing  on  the  floor  in  the  corner  of  the  door-way.  He 
looked  at  that  hand  well.  It  was  large,  white,  and 
elegantly  formed,  and  wore  a  seal  ring  of  conspicuous 
size  upon  the  little  finger.  He  had  scarcely  noticed  this 
ring,  and  wondered  if  others  had  seen  it  too,  when  the 
hand  plunged  into  the  hat,  and  drawing  out  the  kerchief, 
vanished  with  it  behind  the  jamb  that  had  already  hidden 
so  much  from  his  view. 

"A  fine  gentleman's  hand,  and  a  fine  gentleman's  ring," 
was  Mr.  Byrd's  mental  comment ;  and  he  was  about 
to  glance  aside,  when,  to  his  great  astonishment,  he  saw 
the  hand  appear  once  more  with  the  handkerchief  in  it, 
but  without  the  ring  which  a  moment  since  had  made  it 
such  a  conspicuous  mark  for  his  eyes. 


Il6  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Our  fine  gentleman  is  becoming  frightened,"  he 
thought,  watching  the  hand  until  it  dropped  the  handker- 
chief back  into  the  hat.  "  One  does  not  take  off  a  ring  in 
a  company  like  this  without  a  good  reason."  And 
he  threw  a  quick  glance  at  the  man  he  considered  his 
rival  in  the  detective  business. 

But  that  worthy  was  busily  engaged  in  stroking  his  chin 
in  a  feeling  way,  strongly  suggestive  of  a  Fledgerby-like 
interest  in  his  absent  whisker ;  and  well  versed  as 
was  Mr.  Byrd  in  the  ways  of  his  fellow-detectives,  he 
found  it  impossible  to  tell  whether  the  significant  action 
he  had  just  remarked  had  escaped  the  attention  of 
this  man  or  not.  Confused  if  not  confounded,  he  turned 
back  to  the  coroner,  in  a  maze  of  new  sensations,  among 
which  a  growing  hope  that  his  own  former  suspicions  had 
been  of  a  wholly  presumptuous  character,  rose  pre- 
dominant. 

He  found  that  functionary  preparing  to  make  a  remark. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he;  "you  have  listened  to  the 
testimony  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  most  confidential  friend, 
and  heard  such  explanations  as  she  had  to  give,  of 
the  special  fears  which  Mrs.  Clemmens  acknowledges  her- 
self to  have  entertained  in  regard  to  her  personal  safety. 
Now,  while  duly  impressing  upon  you  the  necessity  of  not 
laying  too  much  stress  upon  the  secret  apprehensions  of 
a  woman  living  a  life  of  loneliness  and  seclusion,  I  still 
consider  it  my  duty  to  lay  before  you  another  bit  of  the 
widow's  writing,  in  which " 


THE   GENTLEMAN  FROM   TOLEDO.  II7 

Here  he  was  interrupted  by  the  appearance  at  his  side 
of  a  man  with  a  telegram  in  his  hand.  In  the  pause 
which  followed  his  reading  of  the  same,  Mr.  Byrd,  with 
that  sudden  impulse  of  interference  which  comes  upon  us 
all  at  certain  junctures,  tore  out  a  leaf  from  his  memor- 
andum-book, and  wrote  upon  it  some  half  dozen  or 
so  words  indicative  of  the  advisability  of  examining  the 
proprietor  of  the  Eastern  Hotel  as  to  the  name  and 
quality  of  the  several  guests  entertained  by  him  on  the 
day  of  the  murder  ;  and  having  signed  this  communica- 
tion with  his  initial  letters  H.  B,,  looked  about  for  a 
messenger  to  carry  it  to  the  coroner.  He  found  one  in 
the  person  of  a  small  boy,  who  was  pressing  with  all  his 
might  against  his  back,  and  having  despatched  him  with 
the  note,  regained  his  old  position  at  the  window,  and 
proceeded  to  watch,  with  a  growing  interest  in  the  drama 
before  him,  the  result  of  his  interference  upon  the 
coroner. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait.  The  boy  had  no  sooner 
shown  himself  at  the  door  with  the  note,  than  Dr. 
Tredwell  laid  down  the  telegram  he  was  perusing  and 
took  this  new  communication.  With  a  slight  smile  Mr. 
Byrd  was  not  slow  in  attributing  to  its  true  source, 
he  read  the  note  through,  then  turned  to  the  officer 
at  his  side  and  gave  him  some  command  that  sent  him 
from  the  room.  He  then  took  up  the  slip  he  was  on  the 
point  of  presenting  to  the  jury  at  the  time  he  was 
first  interrupted,  and  continuing  his  remarks  in  reference 
to  it,  said  quietly  : 


Il8  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Gentlemen,  this  paper  which  I  here  pass  over  to  you, 
was  found  by  me  in  the  recess  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  desk  at 
the  time  I  examined  it  for  the  address  of  Miss  Firman. 
It  was  in  an  envelope  that  had  never  been  sealed,  and 
was,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  tucked  away  under  a  pile 
of  old  receipts.  The  writing  is  similar  to  that  used 
in  the  letter  you  have  just  read,  and  the  signature  at- 
tached to  it  is  'Mary  Ann  Clemmens.'  Will  Mr.  Black 
of  the  jury  read  aloud  the  words  he  will  there  find 
written  ?  " 

Mr.  Black,  in  whose  hand  the  paper  then  rested, 
looked  up  with  a  flush,  and  slowly,  if  not  painfully,  com- 
plied : 

"  I  desire  " — such  was  the  language  of  the  writing  before  him — 
"  that  in  case  of  any  sudden  or  violent  death  on  my  part,  the  authori- 
ties should  inquire  into  the  possible  culpability  of  a  gentleman  living 
in  Toledo,  Ohio,  known  by  the  name  of  Gouverneur  Hildreth.  He  is 
a  man  of  no  principle,  and  my  distinct  conviction  is,  that  if  such  a 
death  should  occur  to  me,  it  will  be  entirely  due  to  his  efforts  to  gain 
possession  of  property  which  cannot  be  at  his  full  disposal  until  my 

death. 

"  Mary  Ann  Clemmens,  Sibley,  N.  Y." 

"A  serious  charge  !"  quoth  a  juryman,  breaking  the 
universal  silence  occasioned  by  this  communication  from 
the  dead. 

"  I  should  think  so,"  echoed  the  burly  man  in  front  of 
Mr.  Byrd. 

But  Mr.  Byrd  himself  and  the  quiet  man  who  leaned  so 
stiffly  and  abstractedly  against  the  wall,  said  nothing.  Per- 
haps they  found  themselves  sufficiently  engaged  in  watch- 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      II9 

ing  that  half-seen  elbow,  which  since  the  reading  of  this 
last  slip  of  paper  had  ceased  all  movement  and  remained 
as  stationary  as  though  it  had  been  paralyzed. 

"  A  charge  which,  as  yet,  is  nothing  but  a  charge,"  ob- 
served the  coroner.  "  But  evidence  is  not  wanting,"  he 
went  on,  "  that  Mr.  Hildreth  is  not  at  home  at  this  pres- 
ent time,  but  is  somewhere  in  this  region,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  following  telegram  from  the  superintendent  of  the 
Toledo  police."  And  he  held  up  to  view,  not  the  tele- 
gram he  had  just  received,  but  another  which  he  had 
taken  from  among  the  papers  on  the  table  before  him  : 

"  Party  mentioned  not  in  Toledo.  Left  for  the  East  on  midnight 
train  of  Wednesday  the  27th  Inst.  When  last  heard  from  was  in  Al- 
bany. He  has  been  living  fast,  and  is  well  known  to  be  in  pecuniary 
dlfBculties,  necessitating  a  large  and  immediate  amount  of  money. 
Further  particulars  by  letter. 

"  That,  gentlemen,  I  received  last  night.  To  day," 
he  continued,  taking  up  the  telegram  that  had  just  come 
in,  "  the  following  arrives  : 

"  Fresh  advices.  Man  you  are  in  search  of  talked  of  suicide  at 
his  club  the  other  night.  Seemed  in  a  desperate  way,  and  said  that 
if  something  did  not  soon  happen  he  should  be  a  lost  man.  Horse- 
flesh and  unfortunate  speculations  have  ruined  him.  They  say  it  will 
take  all  he  will  ultimately  receive  to  pay  his  debts, 

"  And  below  : 

'*  Suspected  that  he  has  been  in  your  town." 

A  crisis  was  approaching  round  the  corner.  This,  to 
the  skilled  eyes  of  Mr.  Byrd,  was  no  longer  doubtful. 
Even  if  he  had  not  observed  the  wondering  glances  cast 


120  HAND   AND   RING. 

in  that  direction  by  persons  who  could  see  the  owner  of 
that  now  immovable  elbow,  he  would  have  been  assured 
that  all  was  not  right,  by  the  alert  expression  which  had 
now  taken  the  place  of  the  stolid  and  indifferent  look 
which  had  hitherto  characterized  the  face  of  the  man  he 
believed  to  be  a  detective. 

A  panther  about  to  spring  could  not  have  looked  more 
threatening,  and  the  wonder  was,  that  there  were  no  more 
to  observe  this  exciting  by-play.  Yet  the  panther  did 
not  spring,  and  the  inquiry  went  on. 

"The  witness  I  now  propose  to  call,"  announced  the 
coroner,  after  a  somewhat  trying  delay,  "is  the  proprietor 
of  the  Eastern  Hotel.  Ah,  here  he  is.  Mr.  Symonds, 
have  you  brought  your  register  for  the  past  week  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  answered  the  newcomer,  with  a  good  deal 
of  flurry  in  his  manner  and  an  embarrassed  look  about 
him,  which  convinced  Mr.  Byrd  that  the  words  in  regard 
to  whose  origin  he  had  been  so  doubtful  that  morning, 
had  been  real  words  and  no  dream. 

"  Very  well,  then,  submit  it,  if  you  please,  to  the  jury, 
and  tell  us  in  the  meantime  whether  you  have  entertained 
at  your  house  this  week  any  guest  who  professed  to  come 
from  Toledo?" 

"  I  don't  know.  I  don't  remember  any  such,"  began 
the  witness,  in  a  stammering  sort  of  way.  "  We  have 
always  a  great  many  men  from  the  West  stopping  at  our 
house,  but  I  don't  recollect  any  special  one  who  registered 
himself  as  coming  from  Toledo." 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  121 

"  You,  however,  always  expect  your  guests  to  put  their 
names  in  your  book  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

There  was  something  in  the  troubled  look  of  the  man 
which  aroused  the  suspicion  of  the  coroner,  and  he  was 
about  to  address  him  with  another  question  when  one  of 
the  jury,  who  was  looking  over  the  register,  spoke  up  and 
asked  : 

"  Who  is  this  Clement  Smith  who  writes  himself  down 
here  as  coming  from  Toledo  ?  " 

"Smith? — Smith?"  repeated  Symonds,  going  up  to 
the  juryman  and  looking  over  his  shoulder  at  the  book. 
"  Oh,  yes,  the  gentleman  who  came  yesterday.     He " 

But  at  this  moment  a  slight  disturbance  occurring  in 
the  other  room,  the  witness  paused  and  looked  aboc  t  him 
with  that  same  embarrassed  look  before  noted.  "  He  is 
at  the  hotel  now,"  he  added,  with  an  attempt  at  ease, 
transparent  as  it  was  futile. 

The  disturbance  to  which  I  have  alluded  was  of  a 
peculiar  kind.  It  was  occasioned  by  the  thick-set  man 
making  the  spring  which,  for  some  minutes,  he  had  evident- 
ly been  meditating.  It  was  not  a  tragic  leap,  however,  but 
a  decidedly  comic  one,  and  had  for  its  end  and  aim  the 
recovery  of  a  handkerchief  which  he  had  taken  from  his 
pocket  at  the  moment  when  the  witness  uttered  the  name 
of  Smith,  and,  by  a  useless  flourish  in  opening  it,  flirted 
from  his  hand  to  the  floor.  At  least,  so  the  amused 
throng  interpreted  the  sudden  dive  which  he  made,  and 


122  HAND   AND   RING. 

the  heedless  haste  that  caused  him  to  trip  over  the  gentle- 
man's hat  that  stood  on  the  floor,  causing  it  to  fall  and 
another  handkerchief  to  tumble  out.  But  Mr.  Byrd,  who 
had  a  detective's  insight  into  the  whole  matter,  saw 
something  more  than  appeared  in  the  profuse  apologies 
which  the  thick-set  man  made,  and  the  hurried  manner 
in  which  he  gathered  up  the  handkerchiefs  and  stood 
looking  at  them  before  returning  one  to  his  pocket  and 
the  other  to  its  place  in  the  gentleman's  hat.  Nor  was 
Mr.  Byrd  at  all  astonished  to  observe  that  the  stand 
which  his  fellow-detective  took,  upon  resettling  himself, 
was  much  nearer  the  unseen  gentleman  than  before,  or 
that  in  replacing  the  hat,  he  had  taken  pains  to  put  it  so 
far  to  one  side  that  the  gentleman  would  be  obliged  to 
rise  and  come  around  the  corner  in  order  to  obtain  it. 
The  drift  of  the  questions  propounded  to  the  witness  at 
this  moment  opened  his  eyes  too  clearly  for  him  to  fail 
any  longer  to  understand  the  situation. 

"  Now  at  the  hotel  ? "  the  coroner  was  repeating. 
"  And  came  yesterday  ?  Why,  then,  did  you  look  so  em- 
barrassed when  I  mentioned  his  name  ?" 

"  Oh — well — ah,"  stammered  the  man,  "because  he  was 
there  once  before,  though  his  name  is  not  registered  but 
once  in  the  book." 

"  He  was  ?  And  on  what  day  ?" 

"On  Tuesday,"  asserted  the  man,  with  the  sudden  de- 
cision of  one  who  sees  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  keep 
silence. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM   TOLEDO.  1 23 

"  The  day  of  the  murder  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  And  why  is  his  name  not  on  the  book  at  that  time  if 
he  came  to  your  house  and  put  up  ? " 

"  Because  he  did  not  put  up  ;  he  merely  called  in,  as  it 
were,  and  did  not  take  a  meal  or  hire  a  room." 

"  How  did  you  know,  then,  that  he  was  there  ?  Did 
you  see  him  or  talk  to  him  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"And  what  did  you  say  ? " 

"  He  asked  me  for  directions  to  a  certain  house,  and  I 
gave  them." 

"Whose  house?" 

"  The  Widow  Clemmens',  sir." 

Ah,  light  at  last  !  The  long-sought-for  witness  had 
been  found  !  Coroner  and  jury  brightened  visibly,  while 
the  assembled  crowd  gave  vent  to  a  deep  murmur,  that 
must  have  sounded  like  a  knell  of  doom — in  one  pair  of 
ears,  at  least. 

"  He  asked  you  for  directions  to  the  house  of  Widow 
Clemmens.     At  what  time  was  this  ?  " 

"  At  about  half-past  eleven  in  the  morning." 

The  very  hour  ! 

"  And  did  he  leave  then  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  after  taking  a  glass  of  brandy." 

"  And  did  you  not  see  him  again  ? " 

"  Not  till  yesterday,  sir." 

"  Ah,  and  at  what  time  did  you  see  him  yesterday  ? " 


124  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  At  bedtime,  sir.  ~  He  came  with  other  arrivals  on  the 
five  o'clock  train  ;  but  I  was  away  all  the  afternoon  and 
did  not  see  him  till  I  went  into  the  bar-room  in  the 
evening." 

"  Well,  and  what  passed  between  you  then  ? " 

*'  Not  much,  sir.  I  asked  if  he  was  going  to  stay  with 
us,  and  when  he  said  '  Yes,'  I  inquired  if  he  had  regis- 
tered his  name.  He  replied  '  No.'  At  which  I  pointed 
to  the  book,  and  he  wrote  his  name  down  and  then  went 
up-stairs  with  me  to  his  room." 

"  And  is  that  all  ?  Did  you  say  nothing  beyond  what 
you  have  mentioned  ?  ask  him  no  questions  or  make  no 
allusions  to  the  murder  ?  " 

"  Well,  sir,  I  did  make  some  attempt  that  way,  for  I 
was  curious  to  know  what  took  him  to  the  Widow  Clem- 
mens'  house,  but  he  snubbed  me  so  quickly,  I  concluded 
to  hold  my  tongue  and  not  trouble  myself  any  further 
about  the  matter." 

"  And  do  you  mean  to  say  you  have  n't  told  any  one 
that  an  unknown  man  had  been  at  your  house  on  the 
morning  of  the  murder  inquiring  after  the  widow  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  am  a  poor  man,  and  believe  in  keeping 
out  of  all  sort  of  messes.  Policy  demands  that  much  of 
me,  gentlemen." 

The  look  he  received  from  the  coroner  may  have  con- 
vinced him  that  policy  can  be  carried  too  far. 

"  And  now,"  said  Dr.  Tredwell,  **  what  sort  of  a  man  is 
this  Clement  Smith  ? " 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  1 25 

'*  He  is  a  gentleman,  sir,  and  not  at  all  the  sort  of  per- 
son with  whom  you  would  be  likely  to  connect  any  un- 
pleasant suspicion." 

The  coroner  surveyed  the  hotel-keeper  somewhat 
sternly. 

"  We  are  not  talking  about  suspicions  !  "  he  cried  ; 
then,  in  a  different  tone,  repeated  :  "  This  gentleman,  you 
say,  is  still  at  your  house  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  or  was  at  breakfast-time.  I  have  not  seen 
him  since." 

*'  We  will  have  to  call  Mr.  Smith  as  a  witness,"  declared 
the  coroner,  turning  to  the  officer  at  his  side.  "  Go  and 
see  if  you  cannot  bring  him  as  soon  as  you  did  Mr. 
Symonds." 

But  here  a  voice  spoke  up  full  and  loud  from  the  other 
room. 

"  It  is  not  necessary,  sir.  A  witness  you  will  consider 
more  desirable  than  he  is  in  the  building."  And  the 
thick-set  man  showed  himself  for  an  instant  to  the  coro- 
ner, then  walking  back,  deliberately  laid  his  hand  on  the 
elbow  which  for  so  long  a  time  had  been  the  centre  of 
Mr.  Byrd's  wondering  conjectures. 

In  an  instant  the  fine,  gentlemanly  figure  of  the  stranger, 
whom  he  had  seen  the  night  before  in  the  bar-room,  ap- 
peared with  a  bound  from  beyond  the  jamb,  and  pausing 
excitedly  before  the  man,  now  fully  discovered  to  all 
around  as  a  detective,  asked  him,  in  shaking  tones  of 
suppressed  terror  or  rage,  what  it  was  he  meant. 


126  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  was  the  ready  assurance,  "if  you  will 
step  out  here  in  view  of  the  coroner  and  jury." 

With  a  glance  that  for  some  reason  disturbed  Mr.  Byrd 
in  his  newly  acquired  complacency,  the  gentleman  stalked 
hurriedly  forward  and  took  his  stand  in  the  door-way 
leading  into  the  room  occupied  by  the  persons  mentioned. 

"Now,"  he  cried,  "what  have  you  to  say?" 

But  the  detective,  who  had  advanced  behind  him,  still 
refrained  from  replying,  though  he  gave  a  quick  look  at 
the  coroner,  which  led  that  functionary  to  glance  at  the 
hotel-keeper  and  instantly  ask  : 

"  You  know  this  gentleman  ?  " 

"It  is  Mr.  Clement  Smith." 

A  flush  so  violent  and  profuse,  that  even  Mr.  Byrd 
could  see  it  from  his  stand  outside  the  window,  inundated 
for  an  instant  the  face  and  neck  of  the  gentleman,  but 
was  followed  by  no  words,  though  the  detective  at  his 
side  waited  for  an  instant  before  saying  : 

"  I  think  you  are  mistaken  ;  I  should  call  him  now  Mr. 
Gouverneur  Hildreth  ! " 

With  a  start  and  a  face  grown  as  suddenly  white  as  it 
had  but  an  instant  before  been  red,  the  gentleman  turned 
and  surveyed  the  detective  from  head  to  foot,  saying,  in 
a  tone  of  mock  politeness  : 

"  And  why,  if  you  please  ?  I  have  never  been  intro- 
duced to  you  that  I  remember." 

"  No,"  rejoined  the  detective,  taking  from  his  pocket 
the  handkerchief  which  he  had  previously  put  there,  and 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  12/ 

presenting  it  to  the  other  with  a  bow,  "  but  I  have  read 
the  monogram  upon  your  handkerchief  and  it  happens  to 

be " 

"  Enough  !  "  interrupted  the  other,  in  a  stern  if  not 
disdainful  voice,  "  I  see  1  have  been  the  victim  of 
espionage."  And  stepping  into  the  other  room,  he  walked 
haughtily  up  to  the  coroner  and  exclaimed  :  "  I  am 
Gouverneur  Hildreth,  and  I  come  from  Toledo.  Now, 
what  is  it  you  have  to  say  to  me  ? " 


128  HAND  AND   RING. 


IX. 


CLOSE   CALCULATIONS. 

Truth  alone, 
Truth  tangible  and  palpable  ;  such  truth 
As  may  be  weighed  and  measured  ;  truth  deduced 
By  logical  conclusion — close,  severe — 
From  premises  incontrovertible.— Moultrie. 

THE  excitement  induced  by  the  foregoing  announce- 
ment had,  in  a  degree,  subsided.  The  coroner, 
who  appeared  to  be  as  much  startled  as  any  one  at  the 
result  of  the  day's  proceedings,  had  manifested  his  desire 
of  putting  certain  questions  to  the  young  man,  and  had 
begun  by  such  inquiries  into  his  antecedents,  and  his 
connection  with  Mrs.  Clemmens,  as  elicited  the  most 
complete  corroboration  of  all  Miss  Firman's  statements. 

An  investigation  into  his  motives  for  coming  East  at 
this  time  next  followed,  in  the  course  of  which  he  ac- 
knowledged that  he  undertook  the  journey  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  Mrs.  Clemmens.  And  when  asked 
why  he  wished  to  see  her  at  this  time,  admitted,  with 
some  manifestation  of  shame,  that  he  desired  to  see  for 
himself  whether  she  was  really  in  as  strong  and  healthy  a 
condition  as  he  had  always  been  told  ;  his  pecuniary  em- 
barrassments being  such  that  he  could  not  prevent  his 
mind  from  dwelling  upon  possibilities  which,  under  any 
other  circumstances,  he  would  have  been  ashamed  to 
consider. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.  1 29 

"  And  did  you  see  Mrs.  Clemmens  ?  "  the  coroner  in- 
quired. 

"  Yes,  sir ;  I  did." 

"  When  ? " 

*'  On  Tuesday,  sir  ;  about  noon." 

The  answer  was  given  almost  with  bravado,  and  the  si- 
lence among  the  various  auditors  became  intense. 

"  You  admit,  then,  that  you  were  in  the  widow's  house 
the  morning  she  was  murdered,  and  that  you  had  an  in- 
terview with  her  a  few  minutes  before  the  fatal  blow  was 
struck  ? " 

"I  do." 

There  was  doggedness  in  the  tone,  and  doggedness  in 
the  look  that  accompanied  it.  The  coroner  moved  a  lit- 
tle forward  in  his  chair  and  uttered  his  next  question  with 
deep  gravity. 

"  Did  you  approach  the  widow's  house  by  the  road  and 
enter  into  it  by  means  of  the  front  door  overlooking 
the  lane  ? " 

"I  did." 

"  And  did  you  meet  no  one  in  the  lane,  or  see  no  one 
at  the  windows  of  any  of  the  houses  as  you  came  by  ?  " 

"No,  sir." 

"  How  long  did  you  stay  in  this  house,  and  what  was 
the  result  of  the  interview  which  you  had  with  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens ? " 

"  I  stayed,  perhaps,  ten  minutes,  and  I  learned  nothing 
from  Mrs.  Clemmens,  save  that  she  was  well  and  hearty, 


130  HAND    AND    KING. 

and  likely  to  live  out  her  threescore  years  and  ten  for 
all  hint  that  her  conversation  or  appearance  gave  me." 

He  spoke  almost  with  a  tone  of  resentment  ;  his  eyes 
glowed  darkly,  and  a  thrill  of  horror  sped  through  the 
room  as  if  they  felt  that  the  murderer  himself  stood  be- 
fore them. 

"  You  will  tell  me  what  was  said  in  this  interview,  if 
you  please,  and  whether  the  widow  knew  who  you  were  ; 
and,  if  so,  whether  any  words  of  anger  passed  between 
you  ?  " 

The  face  of  the  young  man  burned,  and  he  looked  at 
the  coroner  and  then  at  the  jurymen,  as  if  he  would  like 
to  challenge  the  whole  crew,  but  the  co'or  that  showed  in 
his  face  was  the  flush  of  shame,  or,  so  thought  Mr.  Byrd, 
and  in  his  reply,  when  he  gave  it,  there  was  a  bitterness 
of  self-scorn  that  reminded  the  detective  more  of  the  mor- 
tification of  a  gentleman  caught  in  an  act  of  meanness 
than  the  secret  alarm  of  a  man  who  had  been  beguiled 
into  committing  a  dastardly  crime. 

"Mrs.  Clemmens  was  evidently  a  woman  of  some 
spirit,"  said  he,  forcing  out  his  words  with  sullen  des- 
peration. "  She  may  have  used  sharp  language  ;  I  be- 
lieve indeed  she  did  ;  but  she  did  not  know  who  I  was, 
for — for  I  pretended  to  be  a  seller  of  patent  medicine, 
warranted  to  cure  all  ills,  and  she  told  me  she  had  no  ills, 
and — and — Do  you  want  a  man  to  disgrace  himself  in 
your  presence  ?"  he  suddenly  flashed  out,  cringing  under 
the  gaze  of  the  many  curious  and  unsympathetic  eyes 
fixed  upon  him. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      I3I 

But  the  coroner,  with  a  sudden  assumption  of  severity, 
pardonable,  perhaps,  in  a  man  with  a  case  of  such  impor- 
tance on  his  hands,  recommended  the  witness  to  be  calm 
and  not  to  allow  any  small  feelings  of  personal  mortifica- 
tion to  interfere  with  a  testimony  of  so  much  evident 
value.  And  without  waiting  for  the  witness  to  recover 
himself,  asked  again  : 

"What  did  the  widow  say,  and  with  what  words  did 
you  leave  ? " 

"  The  widow  said  she  abominated  drugs,  and  never 
took  them.  I  replied  that  she  made  a  great  mistake,  if 
she  had  any  ailments.  Upon  which  she  retorted  that* 
she  had  no  ailment,  and  politely  showed  me  the  door. 
I  do  not  remember  that  any  thing  else  passed  between 
us." 

His  tone,  which  had  been  shrill  and  high,  dropped  at 
the  final  sentence,  and  by  the  nervous  workings  of  his 
lips,  Mr.  Byrd  perceived  that  he  dreaded  the  next  ques- 
tion. The  persons  grouped  around  him  evidently  dread- 
ed it  too. 

But  it  was  less  searching  than  they  expected,  and 
proved  that  the  coroner  preferred  to  approach  his  point 
by  circuitous  rather  than  direct  means. 

"  In  what  room  was  the  conversation  held,  and  by  what 
door  did  you  come  in  and  go  out  ? " 

"  I  came  in  by  the  front  door,  and  we  stood  in  that 
room  " — pointing  to  the  sitting-room  from  which  he  had 
just  issued. 


132  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Stood  !     Did  you  not  sit  down  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Stood  all  the  time,  and  in  that  room  to  which  you 
have  just  pointed  ?  " 

"Yes." 

The  coroner  drew  a  deep  breath,  and  looked  at  the 
witness  long  and  searchingly.  Mr.  Hildreth's  way  of 
uttering  this  word  had  been  any  thing  but  pleasant,  and 
consequently  any  thing  but  satisfactory.  A  low  murmur 
began  to  eddy  through  the  rooms. 

"  Gentlemen,  silence  !  "  commanded  the  coroner,  vent- 
ing in  this  injunction  some  of  the  uncomfortable  emotion 
with  which  he  was  evidently  surcharged  ;  for  his  next 
words  were  spoken  in  a  comparatively  quiet  voice,  though 
the  fixed  severity  of  his  eye  could  have  given  the  witness 
but  little  encouragement. 

"  You  say,"  he  declared,  "  that  in  coming  through  the 
lane  you  encountered  no  one.  Was  this  equally  true  of 
your  return  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  I  believe  so.  I  don't  remember.  I  was  not 
looking  up,"  was  the  slightly  confused  reply. 

"  You  passed,  however,  through  the  lane,  and  entered 
the  main  street  by  the  usual  path  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  And  where  did  you  go  then  ?  " 

"  To  the  depot." 

"  Ah  !  " 

"  I  wished  to  leave  the  town,     I  had  done  with  it." 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  1 33 

"  And  did  you  do  so,  Mr.  Hildreth  ?  " 

"  I  did." 

"  Where  did  you  go  ?  " 

"  To  Albany,  where  I  had  left  my  traps." 

"  You  took  the  noon  train,  then  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Which  leaves  precisely  five  minutes  after  twelve  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  so." 

"  Took  it  without  stopping  anywhere  on  the  way  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Did  you  buy  a  ticket  at  the  office  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Why  ?  " 

"  I  did  not  have  time." 

"  Ah,  the  train  was  at  the  station,  then  ?  " 

Mr.  Hildreth  did  not  reply ;  he  had  evidently  been 
driven  almost  to  the  end  of  his  patience,  or  possibly  of 
his  courage,  by  this  quick  fire  of  small  questions. 

The  coroner  saw  this  and  pressed  his  advantage. 

'*  Was  the  train  at  the  station  or  not  when  you  arrived 
there,  Mr.  Hildreth  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  see  why  it  can  interest  you  to  know,"  the 
witness  retorted,  with  a  flash  of  somewhat  natural  anger ; 
"  but  since  you  insist,  I  will  tell  you  that  it  was  just  going 
out,  and  that  I  had  to  run  to  reach  it,  and  only  got  a  foot- 
hold upon  the  platform  of  the  rear  car  at  the  risk  of  my 
life." 

He  looked  as  if  he  wished  it  had  been  at  the  cost  of  his 


134  HAND    AND    RING. 

life,  and  compressed  his  lips  and  moved  restlessly  from 
side  to  side  as  if  the  battery  of  eyes  levelled  upon  his  face 
were  so  many  points  of  red-hot  steel  burning  into  his 
brain. 

But  the  coroner,  intent  upon  his  duty,  released  not  one 
jot  of  the  steady  hold  he  had  taken  upon  his  victim. 

"  Mr.  Hildreth,"  said  he,  "  your  position  as  the  only 
person  who  acknowledges  himself  to  have  been  in  this 
house  during  the  half-hour  that  preceded  the  assault, 
makes  every  thing  you  can  tell  us  in  reference  to  your 
visit  of  the  highest  importance.  Was  the  widow  alone, 
do  you  think,  or  did  you  see  any  thing — pause  now  and 
consider  well — any  thing  that  would  lead  you  to  suppose 
there  was  any  one  beside  her  and  yourself  in  the  house  ?" 

It  was  the  suggestion  of  a  just  man,  and  Mr.  Byrd 
looked  to  see  the  witness  grasp  with  all  the  energy  of 
despair  at  the  prospect  of  release  it  held  out.  But  Mr. 
Hildreth  either  felt  his  cause  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
such  assistance,  or  his  understanding  was  so  dulled  by 
misery  he  could  not  see  the  advantage  of  acknowledging 
the  presence  of  a  third  party  in  the  cottage.  Giving  a 
dreary  shake  of  the  head,  he  slowly  answered  : 

"  There  may  have  been  somebody  else  in  the  house,  I 
don't  know  ;  but  if  so,  I  did  n't  hear  him  or  see  him.  I 
thought  we  were  alone." 

The  frankness  with  which  he  made  the  admission  was 
in  his  favor,  but  the  quick  and  overpowering  flush  that 
rose  to  his  face  the  moment  he  had  given  utterance  to  it. 


THE    GENTLEMAN    FROM    TOLEDO.  1 35 

betrayed  so  unmistakable  a  consciousness  of  what  the 
admission  implied  that  the  effect  was  immediately  re- 
versed. Seeing  that  he  had  lost  rather  than  gained  in  the 
opinions  of  the  merciless  inquisitors  about  him,  he 
went  back  to  his  old  bravado,  and  haughtily  lifted  his 
head. 

•  *'  One  question  more,"  resumed  the  coroner.  "  You 
have  said  that  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  a  spirited  woman. 
Now,  what  made  you  think  so  ?  Any  expression  of 
annoyance  on  her  part  at  the  interruption  in  her  work 
which  your  errand  had  caused  her,  or  merely  the  expres- 
sion of  her  face  and  the  general  way  she  had  of 
speaking  J  " 

"  The  latter,  I  think,  though  she  did  use  a  harsh  word 
or  two  when  she  showed  me  the  door." 

"  And  raised  her  voice  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes." 

"  Mr.  Hildreth,"  intimated  the  coroner,  rising,  "  will 
you  be  kind  enough  to  step  with  me  into  the  adjoin- 
ing room  ?  " 

With  a  look  of  wonder  not  unmixed  with  alarm, 
the  young  man  prepared  to  comply. 

"  I  should  like  the  attention  of  the  jury,"  Dr.  Tred- 
well  signified  as  he  passed  through  the  door. 

There  was  no  need  to  give  them  this  hint.  Not  a  man 
of  them  but  was  already  on  his  feet  in  eager  curiosity 
as  to  what  their  presiding  officer  was  about  to  do. 

"  I  wish  you  to  tell  me  now,"  the  coroner  demanded  of 


136  HAND   AND    RING. 

Mr.  Hildreth,  as  they  paused  in  the  centre  of  the  sitting- 
room,  "where  it  was  you  stood  during  your  interview 
with  Mrs.  Clemmens,  and,  if  possible,  take  the  very 
position  now  which  you  held  at  that  time." 

"  There  are  too  many  persons  here,"  the  witness 
objected,  visibly  rebelling  at  a  request  of  which  he  could 
not  guess  the  full  significance. 

"The  people  present  will  step  back,"  declared  the 
coroner  ;  "you  will  have  no  trouble  in  taking  your  stand 
on  the  spot  you  occupied  the  other  day." 

"  Here,  then  !  "  exclaimed  the  young  man,  taking 
a  position  near  the  centre  of  the  room. 

"  And  the  widow  ?  " 

"  Stood  there." 

"  Facing  you  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  I  see,"  intimated  the  coroner,  pointing  toward  the 
windows,  "  Her  back  was  to  the  yard  while  you  stood 
with  your  face  toward  it."  Then  with  a  quick  motion, 
summoning  the  witness  back  into  the  other  room,  asked, 
amid  the  breathless  attention  of  the  crowd,  whom  this  bit 
of  by-play  had  wrought  up  to  expectation  :  "  Did  you 
observe  any  one  go  around  to  the  back  door  while  you 
stood  there,  and  go  away  again  without  attempting  to 
knock  ? " 

Mr.  Hildreth  knitted  his  brow  and  seemed  to  think. 

"  Answer,"  persisted  the  coroner  ;  "  it  is  not  a  question 
that  requires  thought." 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  1 37 

"Well,  then,  I  did  not,"  cried  the  witness,  looking  the 
other  directly  in  the  eye,  with  the  first  gleam  of  real 
manly  feeling  which  he  had  yet  displayed. 

"  You  did  not  see  a  tramp  come  into  the  yard,  walk 
around  to  the  kitchen  door,  wait  a  moment  as  if  hesitat- 
ing whether  he  would  rap,  and  then  turn  and  come  back 
again  without  doing  so  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

The  coroner  drew  a  piece  of  paper  before  him  and  be- 
gan figuring  on  it.  Earnestly,  almost  wildly,  the  young 
man  watched  him,  drawing  a  deep  breath  and  turning 
quite  pale  as  the  other  paused  and  looked  up. 

"  Yet,"  affirmed  the  coroner,  as  if  no  delay  had 
occurred  since  he  received  his  last  answer,  "  such  a  per- 
son did  approach  the  house  while  you  were  in  it,  and  if 
you  had  stood  where  you  say,  you  must  have  seen  him." 

It  was  a  vital  thrust,  a  relentless  presentation  of  fact, 
and  as  such  shook  the  witness  out  of  his  lately  acquired 
composure.  Glancing  hastily  about,  he  sought  the  assist- 
ance of  some  one  both  capable  and  willing  to  advise 
him  in  this  crisis,  but  seeing  no  one,  he  made  a  vigorous 
effort  and  called  together  his  own  faculties. 

"  Sir,"  he  protested,  a  tremor  of  undisguised  anxiety 
finding  way  into  his  voice,  "  I  do  not  see  how  you  make 
that  all  out.  What  proof  have  you  that  this  tramp  of 
which  you  speak  came  to  the  house  while  I  was  in  it  ? 
Could  he  not  have  come  before  ?  Or,  what  was  better, 
could  he  not  have  come  after  ? " 


138  HAND  AND   RING. 

The  ringing  tone  with  which  the  last  question  was  put 
startled  everybody.  No  such  sounds  had  issued  from  his 
lips  before.  Had  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  hope,  or  was 
he  driven  to  an  extremity  in  his  defence  that  forced  him 
to  assert  himself  ?  The  eyes  of  Miss  Firman  and  of 
a  few  other  women  began  to  soften,  and  even  the  face  of 
Mr.  Byrd  betrayed  that  a  change  was  on  the  verge  of  tak- 
ing place  in  his  feelings. 

But  the  coroner's  look  and  tone  dashed  cold  water  on 
this  young  and  tender  growth  of  sympathy.  Passing  over 
to  the  witness  the  paper  on  which  he  had  been  scribbling, 
he  explained  with  dry  significance  : 

"  It  is  only  a  matter  of  subtraction  and  addition,  Mr. 
Hildreth.  You  have  said  that  upon  quitting  this  house 
you  went  directly  to  the  depot,  where  you  arrived  barely 
in  time  to  jump  on  the  train  as  it  was  leaving  the  station. 
Now,  to  walk  from  this  place  to  the  depot  at  any  pace 
yon  would  be  likely  to  use,  would  occupy — well,  let  us 
say  seven  minutes.  At  two  minutes  before  twelve,  then, 
you  were  still  in  this  house.  Well  !  "  he  ejaculated,  in- 
terrupting himself  as  the  other  opened  his  lips,  "  have  you 
any  thing  to  say  ?  " 

"No,"  was  the  dejected  and  hesitating  reply. 

The  coroner  at  once  resumed  : 

"But  at  five  minutes  before  twelve,  Mr.  Hildreth,  the 
tramp  walked  into  the  widow's  yard.  Now,  allowing  only 
two  minutes  for  your  interview  with  that  lady,  the  conclu- 
sion remains  that  you  were  in  the  house  when  he  came 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  1 39 

up  to  it.  Yet  you  declare  that,  although  you  stood  in  full 
view  of  the  yard,  you  did  not  see  him." 

"  You  figure  closer  than  an  astronomer  calculating  an 
eclipse,"  burst  from  the  young  man's  lips  in  a  flash  of  that 
resolution  which  had  for  the  last  few  minutes  animated 
him.  "  How  do  you  know  your  witnesses  have  been  so 
exact  to  a  second  when  they  say  this  and  that  of  the  go- 
ings and  comings  you  are  pleased  to  put  into  an  arithmeti- 
cal problem.  A  minute  or  two  one  way  or  the  other 
would  make  a  sad  discrepancy  in  your  calculations,  Mr. 
Coroner." 

"  I  know  it,"  assented  Dr.  Tredwell,  quietly  ignoring 
the  other's  heat ;  "but  if  the  jury  will  remember,  there  were 
four  witnesses,  at  least,  who  testified  to  the  striking  of  the 
town  clock  just  as  the  tramp  finally  issued  from  the  lane, 
and  one  witness,  of  well-known  accuracy  in  matters  of 
detail,  who  declared  on  oath  that  she  had  just  dropped 
her  eyes  from  that  same  clock  when  she  observed  the 
tramp  go  into  the  widow's  gate,  and  that  it  was  five  min- 
utes to  twelve  exactly.  But,  lest  I  do  seem  too  nice 
in  my  calculations,"  the  coroner  inexorably  pursued,  "  I 
will  take  the  trouble  of  putting  it  another  way.  At  what 
time  did  you  leave  the  hotel,  Mr.  Hildreth  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  was  the  testy  response. 

"Well,  I  can  tell  you,"  the  coroner  assured  him.  '*  It 
was  about  twenty  minutes  to  twelve,  or  possibly  earlier, 
but  no  later.  My  reason  for  saying  this,"  he  went  on, 
drawing  once  more  before  him  the  fatal  sheet  of  paper, 


I40  HAND   AND    KING. 

"  is  that  Mrs.  Dayton's  children  next  door  were  out  play- 
ing in  front  of  this  house  for  some  few  minutes  previous 
to  the  time  the  tramp  came  into  the  lane.  As  you  did 
not  see  them  you  must  have  arrived  here  before  they  be- 
gan their  game,  and  that,  at  the  least  calculation,  would 
make  the  time  as  early  as  a  quarter  to  twelve." 

"Well,"  the  fierce  looks  of  the  other  seemed  to  say, 
"  and  what  if  it  was  ?  " 

"Mr.  Hildreth,"  continued  the  coroner,  "if  you  were 
in  this  house  at  a  quarter  to  twelve  and  did  not  leave  it 
till  two  minutes  before,  and  the  interview  was  as  you  say 
a  mere  interchange  of  a  dozen  words  or  so,  that  could  not 
possibly  have  occupied  more  than  three  minutes  ;  where 
were  you  during  all  the  rest  of  the  time  that  must  have 
elapsed  after  you  finished  your  interview  and  the  moment 
you  left  the  house  ? " 

It  was  a  knock-down  question.  This  aristocratic-looking 
young  gentleman  who  had  hitherto  held  himself  erect  be- 
fore them,  notwithstandingt  he  humiliating  nature  of  the 
inquiries  which  had  been  propounded  to  him,  cringed 
visibly  and  bowed  his  head  as  if  a  stroke  of  vital  force 
had  descended  upon  it.  Bringing  his  fist  down  on  the 
table  near  which  he  stood,  he  seemed  to  utter  a  muttered 
curse,  while  the  veins  swelled  on  his  forehead  so  power- 
fully that  more  than  one  person  present  dropped  their 
eyes  from  a  spectacle  which  bore  so  distinctly  the  stamp 
of  guilt. 

"You  have  not  answered,"  intimated  the  coroner,  after 
a  moment  of  silent  waiting. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      I4I 

*'  No  !  "  was  the  loud  reply,  uttered  with  a  force  that 
startled  all  present,  and  made  the  more  timid  gaze  with 
some  apprehension  at  his  suddenly  antagonistic  attitude. 
"  It  is  not  pleasant  for  a  gentleman  " — he  emphasized  the 
word  bitterly — "  for  a  gentleman  to  acknowledge  himself 
caught  at  a  time  like  this  in  a  decided  equivocation.  But 
you  have  cornered  me  fairly  and  squarely,  and  I  am  bound 
to  tell  the  truth.  Gentlemen,  I  did  not  leave  the  widow's 
house  as  immediately  as  I  said.  I  stayed  for  fully  five 
minutes  or  so  alone  in  the  small  hall  that  leads  to  the 
front  door.  In  all  probability  I  was  there  when  the  tramp 
passed  by  on  his  way  to  the  kitchen-door,  and  there  when 
he  came  back  again."  And  Mr.  Hildreth  fixed  his  eyes 
on  the  coroner  as  if  he  dared  him  to  push  him  further. 

But  Dr.  Tredwell  had  been  in  his  present  seat  before. 
Merely  confronting  the  other  with  that  cold  official  gaze 
which  seems  to  act  like  a  wall  of  ice  between  a  witness 
and  the  coroner,  he  said  the  two  words  :  "  What  doing  ? " 

The  effect  was  satisfactory.  Paling  suddenly,  Mr. 
Hildreth  dropped  his  eyes  and  replied  humbly,  though 
with  equal  laconism,  "  I  was  thinking."  But  scarcely  had 
the  words  left  his  lips,  than  a  fresh  flame  of  feeling  started 
up  within  him,  and  looking  from  juryman  to  juryman  he 
passionately  exclaimed  :  "  You  consider  that  acknowledg- 
ment suspicious.  You  wonder  why  a  man  should  give  a 
few  minutes  to  thought  after  the  conclusion  of  an  inter- 
view that  terminated  all  hope.  I  wonder  at  it  now 
myself.     I  wonder  I  did  not  go  straight  out  of  the  house 


142  HAND   AND   RING. 

and  rush  headlong  into  any  danger  that  promised  an 
immediate  extinction  of  my  life." 

No  language  could  have  more  forcibly  betrayed  the 
real  desperation  of  his  mind  at  the  critical  moment  when 
the  widow's  life  hung  in  the  balance.  He  saw  this,  per- 
haps, when  it  was  too  late,  for  the  sweat  started  on  his 
brow,  and  he  drew  himself  up  like  a  man  nerving  himself 
to  meet  a  blow  he  no  longer  hoped  to  avert.  One 
further  remark,  however,  left  his  lips. 

"  Whatever  I  did  or  of  whatever  I  was  thinking,  one 
thing  I  here  declare  to  be  true,  and  that  is,  that  I  did  not 
see  the  widow  again  after  she  left  my  side  and  went  back 
to  her  kitchen  in  the  rear  of  the  house.  The  hand  that 
struck  her  may  have  been  lifted  while  I  stood  in  the  hall, 
but  if  so,  I  did  not  know  it,  nor  can  I  tell  you  now  who 
it  was  that  killed  her." 

It  was  the  first  attempt  at  direct  disavowal  which  he 
had  made,  and  it  had  its  effect.  The  coroner  softened 
a  trifle  of  his  austerity,  and  the  jurymen  glanced  at  each 
other  relieved.  But  the  weight  of  suspicion  against  this 
young  man  was  too  heavy,  and  his  manner  had  been  too 
unfortunate,  for  this  effect  to  last  long.  Gladly  as  many 
would  have  been  to  credit  this  denial,  if  only  for  the  name 
he  bore  and  a  certain  fine  aspect  of  gentlemanhood  that 
surrounded  him  in  spite  of  his  present  humiliation,  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  do  so  without  question,  and  he 
seemed  to  feel  this  and  do  his  best  to  accept  the  situation 
with  patience. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      143 

An  inquiry  which  was  put  to  him  at  this  time  by  a 
juryman  showed  the  existent  state  of  feeling  against 
him. 

"  May  I  ask,"  that  individual  dryly  interrogated,  "why 
you  came  back  to  Sibley,  after  having  left  it  ? " 

The  response  came  clear  and  full.  Evidently  the 
gravity  of  his  position  had  at  last  awakened  the  latent 
resources  of  Mr.  Hildreth's  mind. 

"  I  heard  of  the  death  of  this  woman,  and  my  surprise 
caused  me  to  return," 

"  How  did  you  hear  of  it  ?" 

"  Through  the  newspapers." 

"  And  you  were  surprised  ? " 

"  I  was  astounded  ;  I  felt  as  if  I  had  received  a  blow 
myself,  and  could  not  rest  till  I  had  come  back  where  I 
could  learn  the  full  particulars." 

"  So,  then,  it  was  curiosity  that  brought  you  to  the 
inquest  to-day  ? " 

"  It  was." 

The  juryman  looked  at  him  astonished  ;  so  did  all  the 
rest.  His  manner  was  so  changed,  his  answers  so  prompt 
and  ringing. 

"And  what  was  it,"  broke  in  the  coroner,  "that  led  you 
to  register  yourself  at  the  hotel  under  a  false  name  ? " 

"  I  scarcely  know,"  was  the  answer,  given  with  less  fire 
and  some  show  of  embarrassment.  "  Perhaps  I  thought 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  it  would  be  better  for  me 
not  to  use  my  own." 


144  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  In  Other  words,  you  were  afraid  ? "  exclaimed  the 
coroner,  with  the  full  impressiveness  of  his  somewhat 
weighty  voice  and  manner. 

It  was  a  word  to  make  the  weakest  of  men  start.  Mr. 
Hildreth,  who  was  conspicuous  in  his  own  neighborhood 
for  personal  if  not  for  moral  courage,  flushed  till  it 
looked  as  if  the  veins  would  burst  on  his  forehead,  but 
he  made  no  other  reply  than  a  proud  and  angry  look  and 
a  short : 

"  I  was  not  aware  of  fear  ;  though,  to  be  sure,  I  had  no 
premonition  of  the  treatment  I  should  be  called  upon  to 
suffer  here  to-day." 

The  flash  told,  the  coroner  sat  as  if  doubtful,  and 
looked  from  man  to  man  of  the  jury  as  if  he  would  ques- 
tion their  feelings  on  this  vital  subject.  Meantime  the 
full  shame  of  his  position  settled  heavier  and  heavier 
upon  Mr.  Hildreth  ;  his  head  fell  slowly  forward,  and  he 
seemed  to  be  asking  himself  how  he  was  to  meet  the  pos- 
sibly impending  ignominy  of  a  direct  accusation.  Sudden- 
ly he  drew  himself  erect,  and  a  gleam  shot  from  his  eyes 
that,  for  the  first  time,  revealed  him  as  a  man  of  latent 
pluck  and  courage, 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  began,  looking  first  at  the  coroner 
and  then  at  the  jury,  "  you  have  not  said  you  consider 
me  guilty  of  this  crime,  but  you  evidently  harbor  the 
suspicion.  I  do  not  wonder  ;  my  own  words  have  given 
me  away,  and  any  man  would  find  it  difficult  to  be- 
lieve in  my  innocence  after  what  has  been  testified  to  in 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      145 

this  place.  Do  not  hesitate,  then.  The  shock  of  finding 
myself  suspected  of  a  horrible  murder  is  passed.  I  am 
willing  to  be  arrested.  Indeed,  after  what  has  here  taken 
place,  I  not  only  am  willing  but  even  anxious.  I  want  to 
be  tried,  if  only  to  prove  to  the  world  my  complete  and 
entire  innocence." 

The  effect  of  this  speech,  uttered  at  a  moment  so  criti- 
cal, may  be  easily  imagined.  All  the  impressible  people 
present  at  once  signified  their  belief  in  his  honesty,  and 
gave  him  looks  of  sympathy,  if  not  approval  ;  while  the 
cooler  and  possibly  the  more  judicious  of  his  auditors 
calmly  weighed  these  assertions  against  the  evidence  that 
had  been  advanced,  and  finding  the  result  unsatisfactory, 
shook  their  heads  as  if  unconvinced,  and  awaited  further 
developments. 

They  did  not  come.  The  inquiry  had  reached  its 
climax,  and  little,  if  any  thing,  more  was  left  to  be  said. 
Mr.  Hildreth  was  examined  more  fully,  and  some  few  of 
the  witnesses  who  had  been  heard  in  the  early  part  of  the 
day  were  recalled,  but  no  new  facts  came  to  light,  and  no 
fresh  inquiries  were  started. 

Mr.  Byrd,  who  from  the  attitude  of  the  coroner  could 
not  fail  to  see  Mr.  Hildreth  was  looked  upon  with  a  sus- 
picion that  would  ultimately  end  in  arrest,  decided  that 
his  interest  in  the  inquest  was  at  an  end,  and  being  great- 
ly fatigued,  gave  up  his  position  at  the  window  and 
quietly  stole  away. 


1^6  HAND  AND   RING. 


X. 

THE    FINAL    TEST. 

Men  are  born  with  two  eyes,  but  with  one   tongue,  in  order  that  they 
should  see  twice  as  much  as  they  say.— Colton. 

THE  fact  was,  he  wanted  to  think.  Detective  though 
he  was  and  accustomed  to  the  bravado  with 
which  every  sort  of  criminal  will  turn  to  meet  their  fate 
when  fully  driven  to  bay,  there  had  been  something  in  the 
final  manner  of  this  desperate  but  evidently  cultured 
gentleman,  which  had  impressed  him  against  his  own 
will,  and  made  him  question  whether  the  suspected  man 
was  not  rather  the  victim  of  a  series  of  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstances, than  the  selfish  and  brutal  criminal  which  the 
evidence  given  seemed  to  suggest. 

Not  that  Mr.  Byrd  ever  allowed  his  generous  heart  to 
blind  him  to  the  plain  language  of  facts.  His  secret  and 
not  to  be  smothered  doubts  in  another  direction  were 
proof  enough  of  this  ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  those  very 
doubts,  the  probabilities  are  that  he  would  have  agreed 
with  the  cooler-headed  portion  of  the  crowd,  which  listened 
unmoved  to  that  last  indignant  burst  of  desperate  man- 
hood. 

But  with  those  doubts  still  holding  possession  of  his 
mind,  he  could  not  feel  so  sure  of  Mr.  Hildreth's  guilt  ; 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  147 

and  the  struggle  that  was  likely  to  ensue  between  his 
personal  feelings  on  the  one  side  and  his  sense  of  duty  on 
the  other  did  not  promise  to  be  so  light  as  to  make  it 
possible  for  him  to  remain  within  eye  and  earshot  of  an 
unsympathetic  crowd. 

**  If  only  the  superintendent  had  not  left  it  to  my  judg- 
ment to  interfere,"  thought  he,  pacing  the  streets  with 
ever-increasing  uneasiness,  "  the  responsibility  would  have 
been  shifted  from  my  shoulders,  and  I  would  have  left 
the  young  man  to  his  fate  in  peace.  But  now  I  would 
be  criminally  at  fault  if  I  were  to  let  him  drift  hopelessly 
to  his  doom,  when  by  a  lift  of  my  finger  I  might  possibly 
turn  the  attention  of  justice  toward  the  real  culprit." 

Yet  the  making  up  of  his  mind  to  interfere  was  a  tor- 
ture to  Horace  Byrd.  If  he  was  not  conscious  of  any 
love  for  Imogene  Dare,  he  was  sufficiently  under  the 
dominion  of  her  extraordinary  fascinations  to  feel  that 
any  movement  on  his  part  toward  the  unravelling  of 
the  mystery  that  enveloped  her,  would  be  like  subjecting 
his  own  self  to  the  rack  of  public  inquiry  and  suspicion. 

Nor,  though  he  walked  the  streets  for  hours,  each 
moment  growing  more  and  more  settled  in  his  conviction 
of  Mr.  Hildreth's  innocence,  could  he  bring  himself  to 
the  point  of  embracing  the  duty  presented  to  him,  till  he 
had  subjected  Miss  Dare  to  a  new  test,  and  won  for  him- 
self absolute  certainty  as  to  the  fact  of  her  possessing  a 
clue  to  the  crime,  which  had  not  been  discovered  in  the 
coroner's  inquiry. 


148  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  The  possibility  of  innocence  on  her  part  is  even 
greater  than  on  that  of  Mr.  Hildreth,"  he  considered, 
"  and  nothing,  not  even  the  peril  of  those  dearest  to  me, 
could  justify  me  in  shifting  the  weight  of  suspicion  from 
a  guiltless  man  to  an  equally  guiltless  woman." 

It  was,  therefore,  for  the  purpose  of  solving  this  doubt, 
that  he  finally  sought  Mr.  Ferris,  and  after  learning  that 
Mr,  Hildreth  was  under  surveillance,  and  would  in  all 
probability  be  subjected  to  arrest  on  the  morrow,  asked 
for  some  errand  that  would  take  him  to  Mr.  Orcutt's 
house. 

"  I  have  a  great  admiration  for  that  gentleman  and 
would  like  to  make  his  acquaintance,"  he  remarked  care- 
lessly, hiding  his  true  purpose  under  his  usual  nonchalant 
tones.  "  But  I  do  not  want  to  seem  to  be  pushing  myself 
forward  ;  so  if  you  could  give  me  some  papers  to  carry  to 
him,  or  some  message  requiring  an  introduction  to  his 
presence,  I  should  feel  very  much  obliged." 

Mr.  Ferris,  who  had  no  suspicions  of  his  own  to  assist 
him  in  understanding  the  motives  that  led  to  this  request, 
easily  provided  the  detective  with  the  errand  he  sought. 
Mr.  Byrd  at  once  started  for  the  lawyer's  house. 

It  was  fully  two  miles  away,  but  once  arrived  there,  he 
was  thankful  that  the  walk  had  been  so  long,  as  the 
fatigue,  following  upon  the  activity  of  the  afternoon,  had 
succeeded  in  quieting  his  pulses  and  calming  down  the 
fierce  excitement  which  had  held  him  under  its  control 
ever  since  he  had  taken  the  determination  to  satisfy  his 
doubts  by  an  interview  with  Miss  Dare. 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      I49 

Ringing  the  bell  of  the  rambling  old  mansion  that 
spread  out  its  wide  extensions  through  the  vines  and 
bushes  of  an  old-fashioned  and  most  luxuriant  garden,  he 
waited  the  issue  with  beating  heart.  A  respectable-look- 
ing negro  servant  came  to  the  door. 

"Is  Mr,  Orcutt  in?"  he  asked;  "or,  if  not,  Miss 
Dare  ?  I  have  a  message  from  Mr.  Ferris  and  would  be 
glad  to  see  one  of  them." 

This,  in  order  to  ascertain  at  a  word  if  the  lady  was  at 
home. 

"  Miss  Dare  is  not  in,"  was  the  civil  response,  "  and 
Mr.  Orcutt  is  very  busily  engaged  ;  but  if  you  will  step 
into  the  parlor  I  will  tell  him  you  are  here." 

"  No,"  returned  the  disappointed  detective,  handing 
her  the  note  he  held  in  his  hand.  "  If  your  master  is 
busy  I  will  not  disturb  him."  And,  turning  away,  he 
went  slowly  down  the  steps. 

"  If  I  only  knew  where  she  was  gone  ! "  he  muttered, 
bitterly. 

But  he  did  not  consider  himself  in  a  position  to  ask. 

Inwardly  chafing  over  his  ill-luck,  Mr.  Byrd  proceeded 
with  reluctant  pace  to  regain  the  street,  when,  hearing  the 
gate  suddenly  click,  he  looked  up,  and  saw  advancing 
toward  him  a  young  gentleman  of  a  peculiarly  spruce 
and  elegant  appearance. 

"  Ha !  another  visitor  for  Miss  Dare,"  was  the  detec- 
tive's natural  inference.  And  with  a  sudden  movement 
he  withdrew  from  the  path,  and  paused  as  if  to  light  his 


150  HAND   AND    RING. 

cigar  in  the  shadow  of  the  thick  bushes  that  grew  against 
the  house. 

In  an  instant  the  young  stranger  was  on  the  stoop. 
Another,  and  he  had  rung  the  bell,  which  was  answered 
almost  as  soon  as  his  hand  dropped  from  the  knob. 

"  Is  Miss  Dare  in  ?"  was  the  inquiry,  uttered  in  loud 
and  cheery  tones. 

"  No,  sir.  She  is  spending  a  few  days  with  Miss 
Tremaine,"  was  the  clear  and  satisfactory  reply.  **  Shall 
I  tell  her  you  have  been  here  ? " 

"  No.  I  will  call  myself  at  Miss  Tremaine's,"  rejoined 
the  gentleman.  And,  with  a  gay  swing  of  his  cane  and  a 
cheerful  look  overhead  where  the  stars  were  already  be- 
coming visible,  he  sauntered  easily  off,  followed  by  the 
envious  thoughts  of  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  Miss  Tremaine,"  repeated  the  latter,  musingly. 
"  Who  knows  Miss  Tremaine  ?" 

While  he  was  asking  himself  this  question,  the  voice  of 
the  young  man  rose  melodiously  in  a  scrap  of  old  song, 
and  instantly  Mr.  Byrd  recognized  in  the  seeming  stranger 
the  well-known  tenor  singer  of  the  church  he  had  himself 
attended  the  Sunday  before — a  gentleman,  too,  to  whom 
he  had  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Ferris,  and  with  whom  he 
had  exchanged  something  more  than  the  passing  civilities 
of  the  moment. 

To  increase  his  pace,  overtake  the  young  man,  recall 
himself  to  his  attention,  and  join  him  in  his  quick  walk 
down  the  street,  was  the  work  of  a  moment.     The  nat- 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  151 

ural  sequence  followed.  Mr.  Byrd  made  himself  so  agree- 
able that  by  the  time  they  arrived  at  Miss  Tremaine's  the 
other  felt  loath  to  part  with  him,  and  it  resulted  in  his  be- 
ing urged  to  join  this  chance  acquaintance  in  his  call. 

Nothing  could  have  pleased  Mr.  Byrd  better.  So, 
waiving  for  once  his  instinctive  objection  to  any  sort  of 
personal  intrusion,  he  signified  his  acquiescence  to  the 
proposal,  and  at  once  accompanied  his  new  friend  into  the 
house  of  the  unknown  Miss  Tremaine.  He  found  it 
lit  up  as  for  guests.  All  the  rooms  on  the  ground 
floor  were  open,  and  in  one  of  them  he  could  discern  a 
dashing  and  coquettish  young  miss  holding  court  over  a 
cluster  of  eager  swains. 

"  Ah,  I  forgot,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Byrd's  companion, 
whose  name,  by-the-way,  was  Duryea.  "  It  is  Miss 
Tremaine's  reception  night.  She  is  the  daughter  of  one 
of  the  professors  of  the  High  School,"  he  went  on,  whis- 
pering his  somewhat  late  explanations  into  the  ear  of  Mr. 
Byrd.  "  Every  Thursday  evening  she  throws  her  house 
open  for  callers,  and  the  youth  of  the  academy  are  only 
too  eager  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  of  com- 
ing here.  Well,  it  is  all  the  better  for  us.  Miss  Dare 
despises  boys,  and  in  all  likelihood  we  shall  have  her  en- 
tirely to  ourselves." 

A  quick  pang  contracted  the  breast  of  Mr.  Byrd. 
If  this  easy,  almost  rakish,  fellow  at  his  side  but  knew  the 
hideous  errand  which  brought  him  to  this  house,  what 
a  scene  would  have  ensued  ! 


152  HAND   AND    KING. 

But  he  had  no  time  for  reflection,  or  even  for  that 
irresistible  shrinking  from  his  own  designs  which  he  now 
began  to  experience.  Before  he  realized  that  he  was 
fully  committed  to  this  venture,  he  found  himself  in  the 
parlor  bowing  before  the  naive  and  laughing-eyed  Miss 
Tremaine,  who  rose  to  receive  him  with  all  the  airy 
graciousness  of  a  finished  coquette. 

Miss  Dare  was  not  visible,  and  Mr.  Byrd  was  just 
wondering  if  he  would  be  called  upon  to  enter  into  a  sus- 
tained conversation  with  his  pretty  hostess,  when  a  deep, 
rich  voice  was  heard  in  the  adjoining  room,  and,  looking 
up,  he  saw  the  stately  figure  he  so  longed  and  yet  dreaded 
to  encounter,  advancing  toward  them  through  the  open 
door.  She  was  very  pale,  and,  to  Mr.  Byrd's  eyes, 
looked  thoroughly  worn  out,  if  not  ill.  Yet,  she  bore 
herself  with  a  steadiness  that  was  evidently  the  result  of 
her  will  ;  and  manifested  neither  reluctance  nor  impa- 
tience when  the  eager  Mr.  Duryea  pressed  forward  with 
his  compliments,  though  from  the  fixedness" of  her  gaze 
and  the  immobility  of  her  lip,  Mr.  Byrd  too  truly 
discovered  that  her  thoughts  were  far  away  from  the 
scene  of  mirth  and  pleasure  in  which  she  found  herself. 

"You  see  I  have  presumed  to  follow  you.  Miss  Dare," 
was  the  greeting  with  which  Mr.  Duryea  hailed  her 
approach.  And  he  immediately  became  so  engrossed 
with  his  gallantries  he  forgot  to  introduce  his  com- 
panion. 

Mr.  Byrd  was  rather  relieved  at  this.       He  was  not  yet 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  1 53 

ready  to  submit  her  to  the  test  he  considered  necessary 
to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  situation  ;  and  he  had 
not  the  heart  to  approach  her  with  any  mere  civility  on 
his  tongue,  while  matters  of  such  vital  importance  to  her 
happiness,  if  not  to  her  honor,  trembled  in  the  balance. 

He  preferred  to  talk  to  Miss  Tremaine,  and  this  he  con- 
tinued to  do  till  the  young  fellows  at  his  side,  one  by 
one,  edged  away,  leaving  no  one  in  that  portion  of  the  room 
but  himself  and  Miss  Tremaine,  Mr.  Duryea  and  Miss 
Dare. 

The  latter  two  stood  together  some  few  feet  behind 
him,  and  were  discussing  in  a  somewhat  languid  way,  the 
merits  of  a  musicale  which  they  had  lately  attended. 
They  were  approaching,  however,  and  he  felt  that  if  he 
did  not  speak  at  once  he  might  not  have  another  oppor- 
tunity for  doing  so  during  the  whole  evening.  Turning, 
therefore,  to  Miss  Tremaine,  with  more  seriousness  than 
her  gay  and  totally  inconsequent  conversation  had 
hitherto  allowed,  he  asked,  in  what  he  meant  to  be  a 
simply  colloquial  and  courteous  manner,  if  she  had  heard 
the  news. 

"News,"  she  repeated,  "  no  ;  is  there  any  news  ?  " 

"Yes,  I  call  it  news.  But,  perhaps,  you  are  not  in- 
terested in  the  murder  that  has  lately  taken  place  in  this 
town  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  am,"  she  exclaimed,  all  eagerness  at  once, 
while  he  felt  rather  than  perceived  that  the  couple  at  his 
back  stood  suddenly  still,  as  if  his  words  had  worked  their 


154  HAND   AND   RING. 

spell  over  one  heart  there  at  least.  "  Papa  knew  Mrs. 
Clemmens  very  well,"  the  little  lady  proceeded  with  a 
bewitchingly  earnest  look.  "  Have  they  found  the  mur- 
derer, do  you  think  ?  Any  thing  less  than  that  would  be 
no  news  to  me." 

"  There  is  every  reason  to  suppose "  he  began,  and 

stopped,  something  in  the  deadly  silence  behind  him  mak- 
ing it  impossible  for  him  to  proceed.  Happily  he  was  not 
obliged  to.  An  interruption  occurred  in  the  shape  of  a 
new-comer,  and  he  was  left  with  the  fatal  word  on  his 
lips  to  await  the  approach  of  that  severely  measured  step 
behind  him,  which  by  this  time  he  knew  was  bringing  the 
inscrutable  Miss  Dare  to  his  side. 

"  Miss  Dare,  allow  me  to  present  to  you  Mr.  Byrd.  Mr. 
Byrd,  Miss  Dare." 

The  young  detective  bowed.  With  rigid  attention  to 
the  forms  of  etiquette,  he  uttered  the  first  few  acknowl- 
edgments necessary  to  the  occasion,  and  then  glanced 
up. 

She  was  looking  him  full  in  the  face. 

"  We  have  met  before,"  he  was  about  to  observe,  but 
not  detecting  the  least  sign  of  recognition  in  her  gaze,  re- 
strained the  words  and  hastily  dropped  his  eyes. 

"  Mr.  Duryea  informs  me  you  are  a  stranger  in  the 
town,"  she  remarked,  moving  slowly  to  one  side  in  a  way 
to  rid  herself  of  that  gentleman's  too  immediate  presence. 
"  Have  you  a  liking  for  the  place,  or  do  you  meditate  any 
lengthy  stay  ?  " 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      1 55 

"No.  That  is,"  he  rejoined,  somewhat  shaken  in  his 
theories  by  the  self-possession  of  her  tone  and  the  ease 
and  quietness  with  which  she  evidently  prepared  to  enter 
into  a  sustained  conversation,  "  I  may  go  away  to-morrow, 
and  I  may  linger  on  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time.  It 
all  depends  upon  certain  matters  that  will  be  determined  for 
me  to-night.  Sibley  is  a  very  pretty  place,"  he  observed, 
startled  at  his  own  temerity  in  venturing  the  last  re- 
mark. 

"Yes." 

The  word  came  as  if  forced,  and  she  looked  at  Mr. 
Duryea. 

"Do  you  wish  any  thing,  Miss  Dare  ?  "  that  gentleman 
suddenly  asked.     "  You  do  not  look  well." 

"  I  am  not  well,"  she  acknowledged.  "  No,  thank  you," 
she  cried,  as  he  pushed  a  chair  toward  her.  "  It  is  too 
warm  here.  If  you  do  not  object,  we  will  go  into  the 
other  room."  And  with  a  courteous  glance  that  included 
both  gentlemen  in  its  invitation,  she  led  the  way  into  the 
adjoining  apartment.  Could  it  have  been  with  the  pur- 
pose of  ridding  herself  of  the  assiduities  of  Mr.  Duryea  ? 
The  room  contained  half  a  dozen  or  more  musical  people, 
and  no  sooner  did  they  perceive  their  favorite  tenor  ap- 
proach than  they  seized  upon  him  and,  without  listening 
to  his  excuses,  carried  him  off  to  the  piano,  leaving  Miss 
Dare  alone  with  Mr.  Byrd. 

She  seemed  instantly  to  forget  her  indisposition.  Draw- 
ing herself  up  till  every  queenly   attribute   she  possessed 


156  HAND   AND    RING. 

flashed  brilliantly  before  his  eyes,  she  asked,  with  sudden 
determination,  if  she  had  been  right  in  understanding  him 
to  say  that  there  was  news  in  regard  to  the  murder  of  Mrs. 
Clemmens  ? 

Subduing,  by  a  strong  inward  effort,  every  token  of  the 
emotion  which  her  own  introduction  of  this  topic  natu- 
rally evoked,  he  replied  in  his  easiest  tones  : 

"  Yes  ;  there  was  an  inquest  held  to-day,  and  the  au- 
thorities evidently  think  they  have  discovered  the  person 
who  killed  her."  And  obliging  himself  to  meet  half-way 
the  fate  that  awaited  him,  he  bestowed  upon  the  lady 
before  him  a  casual  glance  that  hid  beneath  its  easy  po- 
liteness the  greatest  anxiety  of  his  life. 

The  test  worked  well.  From  the  pallor  of  sickness, 
grief,  or  apprehension,  her  complexion  whitened  to  the 
deadlier  hue  of  mortal  terror. 

"  Impossible  !  "  her  lips  seemed  to  breathe  ;  and  Mr. 
Byrd  could  almost  fancy  he  saw  the  hair  rise  on  her 
forehead. 

Cursing  in  his  heart  the  bitter  necessity  that  had  forced 
him  into  this  duty,  he  was  about  to  address  her  in  a  way 
calculated  to  break  the  spell  occasioned  by  his  last  words, 
when  the  rich  and  tuneful  voice  of  the  melodious 
singer  rose  suddenly  on  the  air,  and  they  heard  the 
words : 

"  Come  rest  in  this  bosom,  my  own  stricken  deer, 
Though  the  herd  have  fled  from  thee,  thy  home  is  still  here  ; 
Here  still  is  the  smile  that  no  cloud  can  o'ercast, 
And  a  heart  and  a  hand  all  thy  own  to  the  last." 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      1 57 

Instantly  Mr.  Byrd  perceived  that  he  should  not  be 
obliged  to  speak.  Though  the  music,  or  possibly  the 
words,  struck  her  like  a  blow,  it  likewise  served  to  recall 
her  to  herself.  Dropping  her  gaze,  which  had  remained 
fixed  upon  his  own,  she  turned  her  face  aside,  saying  with 
forced  composure  : 

"This  near  contact  with  crime  is  dreadful."  Then 
slowly,  and  with  a  quietness  that  showed  how  great 
was  her  power  of  self-control  when  she  was  not  under 
the  influence  of  surprise,  she  inquired  :  "  And  who  do 
they  think  this  person  is  ?  What  name  do  they  presume 
to  associate  with  the  murderer  of  this  woman  ?  " 

With  something  of  the  feeling  of  a  surgeon  who  nerves 
himself  to  bury  the  steel  in  his  patient's  quivering  flesh, 
he  gave  his  response  unhesitatingly. 

"  A  gentleman's,  I  believe.  A  young  man  connected 
with  her,  in  some  strange  way,  by  financial  interests, 
A  Mr.  Hildreth,  of  Toledo — Gouverneur  Hildreth,  I 
think  they  call  him." 

It  was  not  the  name  she  expected.  He  saw  this  by 
the  relaxation  that  took  place  in  all  her  features,  by  the 
look  of  almost  painful  relief  that  flashed  for  a  moment 
into  the  eyes  she  turned  like  lightning  upon  him. 

"  Gouverneur  Hildreth  !  "  she  repeated.  And  he  knew 
from  the  tone  that  it  was  not  only  a  different  name  from 
what  she  anticipated,  but  that  it  was  also  a  strange  one  to 
her.  "I  never  heard  of  such  a  person,"  she  went  on 
after  a  minute,  during  which  the  relentless  mellow  voice 


158  HAND   AND    RING. 

of  the  unconscious  singer  filled  the  room  with  the  pas- 
sionate appeal : 

"  Oh,  what  was  love  made  for,  if  't  is  not  the  same, 

Through  joy  and  through  sorrow,  through  glory  and  shame  !  " 

"That  is  not  strange,"  explained  Mr.  Byrd,  drawing 
nearer,  as  if  to  escape  that  pursuing  sweetness  of  incon- 
gruous song.  ''He  is  not  known  in  this  town.  He  only 
came  here  the  morning  the  unfortunate  woman  was  mur- 
dered. Whether  he  really  killed  her  or  not,"  he  pro- 
ceeded, with  forced  quietness,  "no  one  can  tell,  of  course. 
But  the  facts  are  very  much  against  him,  and  the  poor 
fellow  is  under  arrest." 

"  What  ? " 

The  word  was  involuntary.  So  was  the  tone  of  horri- 
fied surprise  in  which  it  was  uttered.  But  the  music, 
now  swelling  to  a  crescendo,  drowned  both  word  and 
tone,  or  so  she  seemed  to  fondly  imagine  ;  for,  making 
another  effort  at  self-control,  she  confined  herself  to  a 
quiet  repetition  of  his  words,  "  *  Under  arrest '  ?  "  and 
then  waited  with  only  a  suitable  display  of  emotion  for 
whatever  further  enlightenment  he  chose  to  give  her. 

He  mercifully  spoke  to  the  point. 

"Yes,  under  arrest.  You  see  he  was  in  the  house 
at  or  near  the  time  the  deadly  blow  was  struck.  He  was 
in  the  front  hall,  he  says,  and  nowhere  near  the  woman 
or  her  unknown  assailant,  but  there  is  no  evidence 
against  any  one  else,  and  the  facts  so  far  proved,  show  he 
had  an  interest  in  her  death,  and  so  he  has  to  pay  the 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      1 59 

penalty  of  circumstances.  And  he  may  be  guilty,  who 
knows,"  the  young  detective  pursued,  seeing  she  was 
struck  with  horror  and  dismay,  "dreadful  as  it  is  to 
imagine  that  a  gentleman  of  culture  and  breeding  could 
be  brought  to  commit  such  a  deed." 

But  she  seemed  to  have  ears  for  but  one  phrase  of 
all  this. 

"  He  was  in  the  front  hall,"  she  repeated.  "  How  did 
he  get  there  ?     What  called  him  there  ?  " 

"  He  had  been  visiting  the  widow,  and  was  on  his  way 
out.  He  paused  to  collect  his  thoughts,  he  said.  It 
seems  unaccountable,  Miss  Dare  ;  but  the  whole  thing  is 
strange  and  very  mysterious." 

She  was  deaf  to  his  explanations. 

"  Do  you  suppose  he  heard  the  widow  scream  ? "  she 
asked,  tremblingly,  "  or " 

A  sinking  of  the  ringing  tones  whose  powerful  vibra- 
tion had  made  this  conversation  possible,  caused  her  to 
pause.  When  the  notes  grew  loud  enough  again  for  her 
to  proceed,  she  seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  question  she 
was  about  to  propound,  and  simply  inquired : 

"  Had  he  any  thing  to  say  about  what  he  overheard — 
or  saw  ? " 

"  No.  If  he  spoke  the  truth  and  stood  in  the  hall  as 
he  said,  the  sounds,  if  sounds  there  were,  stopped  short 
of  the  sitting-room  door,  for  he  has  nothing  to  say  about 
them." 

A  change  passed  over  Miss  Dare.     She  dropped  her 


l6o  HAND   AND   RING. 

eyes,  and  an  instant's  pause  followed  this  last  acknowl- 
edgment. 

"  Will  you  tell  me,"  she  inquired,  at  last,  speaking  very 
slowly,  in  an  attempt  to  infuse  into  her  voice  no  more 
than  a  natural  tone  of  interest,  "how  it  was  he  came  to 
say  he  stood  in  that  place  during  the  assault  ?  " 

"  He  did  not  say  he  stood  in  that  place  during  the 
assault,"  was  again  the  forced  rejoinder  of  Mr.  Byrd. 
"  It  was  by  means  of  a  nice  calculation  of  time  and  events, 
that  it  was  found  he  must  have  been  in  the  house  at  or 
near  the  fatal  moment." 

Another  pause  ;  another  bar  of  that  lovely  music. 

"And  he  is  a  gentleman,  you  say  ?"  was  her  hurried 
remark  at  last. 

"Yes,  and  a  very  handsome  one." 

"  And  they  have  put  him  in  prison  ?" 

"Yes,  or  will  on  the  morrow." 

She  turned  and  leaned  against  a  window-frame  near  by, 
looking  with  eyes  that  saw  nothing  into  the  still  vast  night. 

"I  suppose  he  has  friends,"  she  faintly  suggested. 

"Two  sisters,  if  no  one  nearer  and  dearer." 

"  Thou  hast  called  me  thy  angel  in  moments  of  bliss, 
And  thy  angel  I  '11  be,  'mid  the  horrors  of  this — 
Through  the  furnace,  unshrinking,  thy  steps  to  pursue, 
And  shield  thee,  and  save  thee — or  perish  there  too," 

rang  the  mellow  song. 

"I  am  not  well,"  she  suddenly  cried,  leaving  the  win- 
dow and  turning  quickly  toward  Mr.  Byrd.     "  I  am  much 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  l6l 

obliged  to  you,"  said  she,  lowering  her  voice  to  a  whisper, 
for  the  last  note  of  the  song  was  dying  away  in  a  quiver- 
ing pianissimo.  "  I  have  been  deeply  interested  in  this 
tragedy,  and  am  thankful  for  any  information  in  regard 
to  it,     I  must  now  bid  you  good-evening." 

And  with  a  stately  bow  into  which  she  infused  the 
mingled  courtesy  and  haughtiness  of  her  nature,  she 
walked  steadily  away  through  the  crowd  that  vainly 
sought  to  stay  her,  and  disappeared,  almost  without  a 
pause,  behind  the  door  that  opened  into  the  hall. 

Mr.  Byrd  remained  for  a  full  half-hour  after  that,  but 
he  never  could  tell  what  he  did,  or  with  whom  he  con- 
versed, or  how  or  when  he  issued  from  the  house  and 
made  his  way  back  to  his  room  in  the  hotel.  He  only 
knew  that  at  midnight  he  was  still  walking  the  floor,  and 
had  not  yet  made  up  his  mind  to  take  the  step  which  his 
own  sense  of  duty  now  inexorably  demanded. 


l62  HAND  AND   RING. 


XI. 

DECISION. 

Who  dares 
To  say  that  he  alone  has  found  the  truth. 

— Longfellow, 

THE  next  morning  Mr.  Ferris  was  startled  by  the 
appearance  in  his  office  of  Mr.  Byrd,  looking 
wretchedly  anxious  and  ill. 

"I  have  come,"  said  the  detective,  "to  ask  you  what 
you  think  of  Mr.  Hildreth's  prospects.  Have  you  made 
up  your  mind  to  have  him  arrested  for  this  crime  ?" 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  The  evidence  against  him  is 
purely  circumstantial,  but  it  is  very  strong  ;  and  if  no 
fresh  developments  occur,  I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt 
about  my  duty.  Each  and  every  fact  that  comes  to  light 
only  strengthens  the  case  against  him.  When  he  came  to 
be  examined  last  night,  a  ring  was  found  on  his  person, 
which  he  acknowledged  to  having  worn  on  the  day  of  the 
murder." 

"  He  took  it  off  during  the  inquest,"  murmured  Mr. 
Byrd  ;  "  I  saw  him." 

"It  is  said  by  Hickory — the  somewhat  questionable 
cognomen  of  your  fellow-detective  from  New  York — that 
the  young  man  manifested  the  most  intense  uneasiness 
during  the  whole  inquiry.     That   in  fact  his  attention 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      I 63 

was  first  drawn  to  him  by  the  many  tokens  which  he 
gave  of  suppressed  agitation  and  alarm.  Indeed,  Mr. 
Hickory  at  one  time  thought  he  should  be  obliged  to 
speak  to  this  stranger  in  order  to  prevent  a  scene.  Once 
Mr.  Hildreth  got  up  as  if  to  go,  and,  indeed,  if  he  had 
been  less  hemmed  in  by  the  crowd,  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  he  would  have  attempted  an  escape." 

"  Is  this  Hickory  a  man  of  good  judgment  ? "  inquired 
Mr.  Byrd,  anxiously. 

"Why,  yes,  I  should  say  so.  He  seems  to  understand 
his  business.  The  way  he  procured  us  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  Hildreth  was  certainly  satisfactory." 

"I  wish  that,  without  his  knowing  it,  I  could  hear  him 
give  his  opinion  of  this  matter,"  intimated  the  other. 

"Well,  you  can,"  rejoined  Mr.  Ferris,  after  a  quick 
and  comprehensive  survey  of  Mr.  Byrd's  countenance. 
"  I  am  expecting  him  here  any  moment,  and  if  you  see  fit 
to  sit  down  behind  that  screen,  you  can,  without  the  least 
difficulty  to  yourself  or  him,  hear  all  he  has  to  impart." 

"  I  will,  then,"  the  detective  declared,  a  gloomy  frown 
suddenly  corrugating  his  brow  ;  and  he  stepped  across  to 
the  screen  which  had  been  indicated  to  him,  and  quietly 
withdrew  from  view. 

He  had  scarcely  done  this,  when  a  short,  quick  step 
was  heard  at  the  door,  and  a  wide-awake  voice  called  out, 
cheerily  : 

"  Are  you  alone,  sir  ? " 

"  Ah  !  "  ejaculated  Mr.  Ferris,  "  come  in,  come  in.     I 


164  HAND    AND    RING. 

have  been  awaiting  you  for  some  minutes,"  he  declared, 
ignoring  the  look  which  the  man  threw  hastily  around  the 
room.     "  Any  news  this  morning  ?  " 

"  No,"  returned  the  other,  in  a  tone  of  complete  self- 
satisfaction.  "We've  caged  the  bird  and  must  n't  ex- 
pect much  more  in  the  way  of  news.  I  'm  on  my  way  to 
Albany  now,  to  pick  up  such  facts  about  him  as  may  be 
lying  around  there  loose,  and  shall  be  ready  to  start  for 
Toledo  any  day  next  week  that  you  may  think  proper," 

"You  are,  then,  convinced  that  Mr.  Hildreth  is  unde- 
niably the  guilty  party  in  this  case  ? "  exclaimed  the 
District  Attorney,  taking  a  whiff  at  his  cigar. 

"  Convinced  ?  That  is  a  strong  word,  sir.  A  detective 
is  never  convinced,"  protested  the  man.  "  He  leaves 
that  for  the  judge  and  jury.  But  if  you  ask  me  if  there  is 
any  doubt  about  the  direction  in  which  all  the  circum- 
stantial evidence  in  this  case  points,  I  must  retort  by 
asking  you  for  a  clue,  or  the  tag-end  of  a  clue,  guiding 
me  elsewhere.  I  know,"  he  went  on,  with  the  volubility 
of  a  man  whose  work  is  done,  and  who  feels  he  has  the 
right  to  a  momentary  indulgence  in  conversation,  "  that 
it  is  not  an  agreeable  thing  to  subject  a  gentleman  like 
Mr.  Hildreth  to  the  shame  of  a  public  arrest.  But  facts 
are  not  partial,  sir  ;  and  the  gentleman  has  no  more  rights 
in  law  than  the  coarsest  fellow  that  we  take  up  for  butcher- 
ing his  mother.  But  you  know  all  this  without  my  telling 
you,  and  I  only  mention  it  to  excuse  any  obstinacy  I  may 
have  manifested  on  the  subject.     He  is  mightily  cut  up 


THE   GENTLEMAN   FROM   TOLEDO.  165 

about  it,"- he  again  proceeded,  as  he  found  Mr.  Ferris 
forebore  to  reply.  "  I  am  told  he  did  n't  sleep  a  wink 
all  night,  but  spent  his  time  alternately  in  pacing  the  floor 
like  a  caged  lion,  and  in  a  wild  sort  of  stupor  that  had 
something  of  the  hint  of  madness  in  it.  '  If  my  grand- 
father had  only  known  !  '  was  the  burden  of  his  song  ; 
and  when  any  one  approached  him  he  either  told  them  to 
keep  their  eyes  off  him,  or  else  buried  his  face  in  his 
hands  with  an  entreaty  for  them  not  to  disturb  the  last 
hours  of  a  dying  man.  He  evidently  has  no  hope  of 
escaping  the  indignity  of  arrest,  and  as  soon  as  it  was 
light  enough  for  him  to  see,  he  asked  for  paper  and  pen- 
cil. They  were  brought  him,  and  a  man  stood  over 
him  while  he  wrote.  It  proved  to  be  a  letter  to  his 
sisters  enjoining  them  to  believe  in  his  innocence,  and 
wound  up  with  what  was  very  much  like  an  attempt  at  a 
will.  Altogether,  it  looks  as  if  he  meditated  suicide,  and 
we  have  been  careful  to  take  from  him  every  possible 
means  for  his  effecting  his  release  in  this  way,  as  well  as 
set  a  strict  though  secret  watch  upon  him." 

A  slight  noise  took  place  behind  the  screen,  which  at 
any  other  time  Mr.  Hickory  would  have  been  the  first  to 
notice  and  inquire  into.  As  it  was,  it  had  only  the  effect 
of  unconsciously  severing  his  train  of  thought  and  start- 
ing him  alertly  to  his  feet. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  facing  the  District  Attorney  with 
cheerful  vivacity,  "any  orders  ?" 

"  No,"  responded  Mr.  Ferris.    "A  run  down  to  Albany 


l66  HAND   AND    RING. 

seems  to  be  the  best  thing  for  you  at  present.  On  your 
return  we  will  consult  again." 

"  Very  well,  sir.  I  shall  not  be  absent  more  than  two 
days,  and,  in  the  meantime,  you  will  let  me  know  if  any 
thing  important  occurs  ?  "  And,  handing  over  his  new 
address,  Hickory  speedily  took  his  leave. 

"  Well,  Byrd,  what  do  you  think  of  him  ?  " 

For  reply,  Mr.  Byrd  stepped  forth  and  took  his  stand 
before  the  District  Attorney. 

"  Has  Coroner  Tredwell  informed  you,"  said  he,  "  that 
the  superintendent  has  left  it  to  my  discretion  to  interfere 
in  this  matter  if  I  thought  that  by  so  doing  I  could 
further  the  ends  of  justice  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  language  of  the  quick,  short  nod  he  re- 
ceived. 

"  Very  well,"  continued  the  other,  "you  will  pardon 
me,  then,  if  I  ask  you  to  convey  to  Mr.  Hildreth  the  fol- 
lowing message  :  That  if  he  is  guiltless  of  this  crime  he 
need  have  no  fear  of  the  results  of  the  arrest  to  which  he 
maybe  subjected  ;  that  a  man  has  interested  himself  in 
this  matter  who  pledges  his  word  not  to  rest  till  he  has 
discovered  the  guilty  party  and  freed  the  innocent  from 
suspicion." 

"  What  !"  cried  Mr.  Ferris,  astonished  at  the  severe 
but  determined  bearing  of  the  young  man  who,  up  to 
this  time,  he  had  only  seen  under  his  lighter  and  more 
indifferent  aspect.  "  You  don't  agree  with  this  fellow, 
then,  in  his  conclusions  regarding  Mr.  Hildreth  ?  " 


THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  TOLEDO.      1 6/ 

"  No,  sir.  Hickory,  as  I  judge,  is  an  egotist.  He  dis- 
covered Mr.  Hildreth  and  brought  him  to  the  notice  of 
the  jury,  therefore  Mr.  Hildreth  is  guilty." 

"  And  you  ?  " 

"  I  am  open  to  doubt  about  it.  Not  that  I  would 
acknowledge' it  to  any  one  but  you,  sir." 

"  Why  ?  " 

"  Because  if  I  work  in  this  case  at  all,  or  make  any 
efforts  to  follow  up  the  clue  which  I  believe  myself  to 
have  received,  it  must  be  done  secretly,  And  without 
raising  the  suspicion  of  any  one  in  this  town.  I  am  not 
in  a  position,  as  you  know,  to  work  openly,  even  if  it 
were  advisable  to  do  so,  which  it  certainly  is  not. 
What  I  do  must  be  accomplished  under  cover,  and 
I  ask  you  to  help  me  in  my  self-imposed  and  by  no 
means  agreeable  task,  by  trusting  me  to  pursue  my 
inquiries  alone,  until  such  time  as  I  assure  myself  be- 
yond a  doubt  that  my  own  convictions  are  just,  and 
that  the  man  who  murdered  Mrs.  Clemmens  is  some 
one  entirely  separated  from  Mr.  Hildreth  and  any 
interests   that   he   represents." 

"  You   are,  then,  going   to   take   up   this   case  ? " 

The  answer  given  was  short,  but  it  meant  the  delib- 
erate shivering  of  the  fairest  dream  of  love  that  had  ever 
visited  Mr.  Byrd's  imagination. 
1  am. 


BOOK  II. 

THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB. 

XII. 

THE    SPIDER. 
"  Thus  far  we  run  before  the  wind." 

IN  the  interview  which  Mr.  Byrd  had  held  with  Miss 
Dare  he  had  been  conscious  of  omitting  one  test 
which  many  another  man  in  his  place  would  have  made. 
This  was  the  utterance  of  the  name  of  him  whom  he  really 
believed  to  be  the  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemraens.  Had  he 
spoken  this  name,  had  he  allowed  himself  to  breathe  the 
words  "  Craik  Mansell  "  into  the  ears  of  this  agitated 
woman,  or  even  gone  so  far  as  to  allude  in  the  most  care- 
less way  to  the  widow's  nephew,  he  felt  sure  his  daring 
would  have  been  rewarded  by  some  expression  on  her 
part  that  would  have  given  him  a  substantial  basis  for 
his  theories  to  rest  upon. 

But  he  had  too  much  natural  chivalry  for  this.  His 
feelings  as  a  man  got  in  the  way  of  his  instinct  as  a  detec- 
tive. Nevertheless,  he  felt  positive  that  his  suspicions  in 
regard  to  this  nephew  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  were  correct, 
and  set  about  the  task  of  fitting  facts  to  his  theory,  with 
all  that  settled  and  dogged  determination  which  follows 
the  pursuit  of  a  stern  duty  unwillingly  embraced. 

i68 


THE  WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  1 69 

Two  points  required  instant  settling. 

First,  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  his  supposition  as  to 
the  identification  of  the  person  confronted  by  Miss  Dare 
in  the  Syracuse  depot  with  the  young  man  described  by 
Miss  Firman  as  the  nephew  of  Widow  Clemmens. 

Secondly,  the  existence  or  non-existence  of  proof  going 
to  show  the  presence  of  this  person  at  or  near  the  house 
of  Mrs.  Clemmens,  during  the  time  of  the  assault. 

But  before  proceeding  to  satisfy  himself  in  regard  to 
these  essentials,  he  went  again  to  the  widow's  house  and 
there  spent  an  hour  in  a  careful  study  of  its  inner  and 
outer  arrangements,  with  a  view  to  the  formation  of  a 
complete  theory  as  to  the  manner  and  method  of  the 
murder.  He  found  that  in  default  of  believing  Mr. 
Hildreth  the  assailant,  one  supposition  was  positively 
necessary,  and  this  was  that  the  murderer  was  in  the 
house  when  this  gentleman  came  to  it.  A  glance  at  the 
diagram  on  next  page  will  explain  why., 

The  house,  as  you  will  see,  has  but  three  entrances  : 
the  front  door,  at  which  Mr.  Hildreth  unconsciously 
stood  guard  ;  the  kitchen-door,  also  unconsciously  guard- 
ed during  the  critical  moment  by  the  coming  and  going 
of  the  tramp  through  the  yard  ;  and  the  dining-room 
door,  which,  though  to  all  appearance  free  from  the  sur- 
veillance of  any  eye,  was  so  situated  in  reference  to  the 
clock  at  which  the  widow  stood  when  attacked,  that  it 
was  manifestly  impossible  for  any  one  to  enter  it  and 
eross  the  room  to  the  hearth  without  attracting  the  atten- 
tion of  her  eve  if  not  of  her  ear. 


I70 


HAND   AND   RING. 


SWAMP 


a:/ 
H 
o/ 
H 


CLOCK 

DOOR 

(table) 

D00(\ 

WINDOW 

1 

HEARJH 

00 

n 
o 

o 

_2      1 

— 

SITTING  F^OOKJ 

EAF^LOF( 

D9QR 


GATE 


Z 

n 


KITCHENTIdOf^^ 


;< 

;  ca 


/5 


MI\S.DANTOI\I'S.HOUSE 


To  be  sure,  there  was  the  bare  possibility  of  his  having 
come  in  by  the  kitchen-door,  after  the  departure  of  the 
tramp,  but  such  a  contingency  was  scarcely  worth  con- 
sidering.    The  almost  certain  conclusion  was  that  he  had 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A  WEB.  I^I 

been  in  the  house  for  some  time,  and  was  either  in  the 
dining-room  when  Mrs.  Clemmens  returned  to  it  from  her 
interview  with  Mr.  Hildreth,  or  else  came  down  to  it  from 
the  floor  above  by  means  of  the  staircase  that  so  strangely 
descended  into  that  very  room. 

Another  point  looked  equally  clear.  The  escape  of 
the  murderer — still  in  default  of  considering  Mr.  Hildreth 
as  such — must  have  been  by  means  of  one  of  the  back 
doors,  and  must  have  been  in  the  direction  of  the  woods. 
To  be  sure  there  was  a  stretch  of  uneven  and  marshy 
ground  to  be  travelled  over  before  the  shelter  of  the  trees 
could  be  reached  ;  but  a  person  driven  by  fear  could,  at 
a  pinch,  travel  it  in  five  minutes  or  less  ;  and  a  momen- 
tary calculation  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Byrd  sufficed  to  show 
him  that  more  time  than  this  had  elapsed  from  the  prob- 
able instant  of  assault  to  the  moment  when  Mr.  Ferris 
opened  the  side  door  and  looked  out  upon  the  swamp. 

The  dearth  of  dwellings  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the 
street,  and,  consequently,  the  comparative  immunity 
from  observation  which  was  given  to  that  portion  of  the 
house  which  over-looked  the  swamp,  made  him  conclude 
that  this  outlet  from  the  dining-room  had  been  the  one 
made  use  of  in  the  murderer's  flight.  A  glance  down  the 
yard  to  the  broken  fence  that  separated  the  widow's  land 
from  the  boggy  fields  beyond,  only  tended  to  increase  the 
probabilities  of  this  supposition,  and,  alert  to  gain  for 
himself  that  full  knowledge  of  the  situation  necessary  to 
a  successful  conduct  of  this  mysterious  affair,  he  hastily 


172  HAND   AND    RING. 

left  the  house  and  started  across  the  swamp,  with  the  idea 
of  penetrating  the  woods  and  discovering  for  himself 
what  opportunity  they  afforded  for  concealment  or 
escape. 

He  had  more  difficulty  in  doing  this  than  he  expected. 
The  ground  about  the  hillocks  was  half-sunk  in  water, 
and  the  least  slip  to  one  side  invariably  precipitated  him 
among  the  brambles  that  encumbered  this  spot.  Still,  he 
compassed  his  task  in  little  more  than  five  minutes, 
arriving  at  the  firm  ground,  and  its  sturdy  growth  of 
beeches  and  maples,  well  covered  with  mud,  but  so  far 
thoroughly  satisfied  with  the  result  of  his  efforts. 

The  next  thing  to  be  done  was  to  search  the  woods, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  picking  up  clues — it  was  too  late 
for  that — but  to  determine  what  sort  of  a  refuge  they 
afforded,  and  whether,  in  the  event  of  a  man's  desiring  to 
penetrate  them  quickly,  many  impediments  would  arise 
in  the  shape  of  tangled  underground  or  loose-lying 
stones. 

He  found  them  remarkably  clear  ;  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  he  travelled  for  some  distance  into  their  midst  before 
he  realized  that  he  had  passed  beyond  their  borders. 
More  than  this,  he  came  ere  long  upon  something  like  a 
path,  and,  following  it,  emerged  into  a  sort  of  glade, 
where,  backed  up  against  a  high  rock,  stood  a  small  and 
seemingly  deserted  hut.  It  was  the  first  object  he  had 
met  with  that  in  any  way  suggested  the  possible  presence 
of  man,  and  advancing  to  it  with  cautious  steps,  he  looked 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  I73 

into  its  open  door-way.  Nothing  met  his  eyes  but  an 
empty  interior,  and  without  pausing  to  bestow  upon  the 
building  a  further  thought,  he  hurried  on  through  a  path 
he  saw  opening  beyond  it,  till  he  came  to  the  end  of  the 
wood. 

Stepping  forth,  he  paused  in  astonishment.  Instead 
of  having  penetrated  the  woods  in  a  direct  line,  he  found 
that  he  had  merely  described  a  half  circle  through  them, 
and  now  stood  on  a  highway  leading  directly  back  into 
the  town. 

Likewise,  he  was  in  full  sight  of  the  terminus  of  a  line 
of  horse-cars  that  connected  this  remote  region  of  Sibley 
with  its  business  portion,  and  though  distant  a  good  mile 
from  the  railway  depot,  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
as  near  that  means  of  escape  as  he  would  have  been  in 
the  street  in  front  of  Widow  Clemmens'  house. 

Full  of  thoughts  and  inly  wondering  over  the  fatality 
that  had  confined  the  attention  of  the  authorities  to  the 
approaches  afforded  by  the  lane,  to  the  utter  exclusion  of 
this  more  circuitous,  but  certainly  more  elusive,  road  of 
escape,  he  entered  upon  the  highway,  and  proceeded  to 
gain  the  horse-car  he  saw  standing  at  the  head  of  the  road, 
a  few  rods  away.  As  he  did  so,  he  for  the  first  time  re- 
alized just  where  he  was.  The  elegant  villa  of  Professor 
Darling  rising  before  him  on  the  ridge  that  ran  along  on 
the  right-hand  side  of  the  road,  made  it  at  once  evident 
that  he  was  on  the  borders  of  that  choice  and  aristocratic 
quarter  known  as  the  West  Side.     It  was  a  new  region  to 


174  HANI  J   AND    RING. 

him,  and,  pausing  for  a  moment,  he  cast  his  eyes  over  the 
scene  which  lay  stretched  out  before  him.  He  had  fre- 
quently heard  it  said  that  the  view  commanded  by  the 
houses  on  the  ridge  was  the  finest  in  the  town,  and  he  was 
not  disappointed  in  it.  As  he  looked  across  the  verdant 
basin  of  marshy  ground  around  which  the  road  curved 
like  a  horseshoe,  he  could  see  the  city  spread  out  like  a 
map  before  him.  So  unobstructed,  indeed,  was  the  view 
he  had  of  its  various  streets  and  buildings,  that  he  thought 
he  could  even  detect,  amid  the  taller  and  more  conspicu- 
ous dwellings,  the  humble  walls  and  newly-shingled  roof 
of  the  widow's  cottage. 

But  he  could  not  be  sure  of  this  ;  his  eyesight  was  any 
thing  but  trustworthy  for  long  distances,  and  hurrying 
forward  to  the  car,  he  took  his  seat  just  as  it  was  about 
to  start. 

It  carried  him  straight  into  town,  and  came  to  a  stand- 
still not  ten  feet  from  the  railroad  depot.  As  he  left  it 
and  betook  himself  back  to  his  hotel,  he  gave  to  his 
thoughts  a  distinct  though  inward  expression. 

"  If,"  he  mused,  "  my  suppositions  in  regard  to  this 
matter  are  true,  and  another  man  than  Mr.  Hildreth 
struck  the  fatal  blow,  then  I  have  just  travelled  over  the 
self-same  route  he  took  in  his  flight." 

But  were  his  suppositions  true  ?  It  remained  for  him  to 
determine. 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  1 75 


XIII. 

THE    FLY. 
Like — but  oh  !  how  different. — Wordsworth, 

THE  paper  mill  of  Harrison,  Goodman  &  Cham- 
berlain was  situated  in  one  of  the  main  thorough- 
fares of  Buffalo.  It  was  a  large  but  otherwise  unpreten- 
tious building,  and  gave  employment  to  a  vast  number  of 
operatives,  mostly  female. 

Some  of  these  latter  might  have  been  surprised,  and 
possibly  a  little  fluttered,  one  evening,  at  seeing  a  well- 
dressed  young  gentleman  standing  at  the  gate  as  they 
came  forth,  gazing  with  languid  interest  from  one  face  to 
another,  as  if  he  were  on  the  look-out  for  some  one  of 
their  number. 

But  they  would  have  been  yet  more  astonished  could 
they  have  seen  him  still  lingering  after  the  last  one  had 
passed,  watching  with  unabated  patience  the  opening  and 
shutting  of  the  small  side  door  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
firm,  and  such  employes  as  had  seats  in  the  office.  It 
was  Mr.  Byrd,  and  his  purpose  there  at  this  time  of  day 
was  to  see  and  review  the  whole  rank  and  file  of  the 
young  men  employed  in  the  place,  in  the  hope  of  being 
able  to  identify  the  nephew  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  by  his  sup- 
posed resemblance  to  the  person  whose  character  of  face 
and  form  had  been  so  minutely  described  to  him. 


176  HAND   AND    KING. 

For  Mr,  Byrd  was  a  just  man  and  a  thoughtful  one,  and 
knowing  this  identification  to  be  the  key-stone  of  his 
lately  formed  theory,  desired  it  to  be  complete  and  of  no 
doubtful  character.  He  accordingly  held  fast  to  his 
position,  watching  and  waiting,  seemingly  in  vain,  for  the 
dark,  powerful  face  and  the  sturdily-built  frame  of  the 
gentleman  whose  likeness  he  had  attempted  to  draw  in 
conjunction  with  that  of  Miss  Dare.  But,  though  he  saw 
many  men  of  all  sorts  and  kinds  issue  from  one  door  or 
another  of  this  vast  building,  not  one  of  them  struck  him 
with  that  sudden  and  unmistakable  sense  of  familiarity 
which  he  had  a  right  to  expect,  and  he  was  just  beginning 
to  doubt  if  the  whole  framework  of  his  elaborately-formed 
theory  was  not  destined  to  fall  into  ruins,  when  the  small 
door,  already  alluded  to,  opened  once  more,  and  a  couple 
of  gentlemen  came  out. 

The  appearance  of  one  ot  them  gave  Mr.  Byrd  a  start. 
He  was  young,  powerfully  built,  wore  a  large  mustache, 
and  had  a  complexion  of  unusual  swarthiness.  There 
was  character,  too,  in  his  face,  though  not  so  much  as  Mr. 
Byrd  had  expected  to  see  in  the  nephew  of  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens.  Still,  people  differ  about  degrees  of  expression, 
and  to  his  informant  this  face  might  have  appeared  strong. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  business  suit,  and  was  without  an 
overcoat — two  facts  that  made  it  difficult  for  Mr.  Byrd 
to  get  any  assistance  from  the  cut  and  color  of  his 
clothes. 

But  there  was  enough  in  the  general  style  and  bearing 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  I'J'J 

of  this  person  to  make  Mr.  Byrd  anxious  to  know  his 
name.  He,  therefore,  took  it  upon  himself  to  follow 
him — a  proceeding  which  brought  him  to  the  corner  just 
in  time  to  see  the  two  gentlemen  separate,  and  the  espe- 
cial one  in  whom  he  was  interested,  step  into  a  car. 

He  succeeded  in  getting  a  seat  in  the  same  car,  and  for 
some  blocks  had  the  pleasure  of  watching  the  back  of  the 
supposed  Mansell,  as  he  stood  on  the  front  platform  with 
the  driver.  Then  others  got  in,  and  the  detective's  view 
was  obstructed,  and  presently — he  never  could  tell  how 
it  was — he  lost  track  of  the  person  he  was  shadowing, 
and  when  the  chance  came  for  another  sight  of  the  driver 
and  platform,  the  young  man  was  gone. 

Annoyed  beyond  expression,  Mr.  Byrd  went  to  a  hotel, 
and  next  day  sent  to  the  mill  and  procured  the  address 
of  Mr.  Mansell.  Going  to  the  place  named,  he  found  it 
to  be  a  very  respectable  boarding-house,  and,  chancing 
upon  a  time  when  more  or  less  of  the  rooms  were  empty, 
succeeded  in  procuring  for  himself  an  apartment  there. 

So  here  he  was  a  fixture  in  the  house  supposed  by  him 
to  hold  the  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemmens.  When  the 
time  for  dinner  came,  and  with  it  an  opportunity  for  set- 
tling the  vexed  question  of  Mr.  Mansell's  identity  not 
only  with  the  man  in  the  Syracuse  depot,  but  with  the 
person  who  had  eluded  his  pursuit  the  day  before,  some- 
thing of  the  excitement  of  the  hunter  in  view  of  his  game 
seized  upon  this  hitherto  imperturbable  detective,  and  it 
was  with  difficulty  he  could  sustain  his  usual  rdle  of  fash- 
ionable indifference. 


178  HAND   AND   RING. 

He  arrived  at  the  table  before  any  of  the  other  board- 
ers, and  presently  a  goodly  array  of  amiable  matrons,  old 
and  young  gentlemen,  and  pretty  girls  came  filing  into  the 
room,  and  finally— yes,  finally— the  gentleman  whom  he 
had  followed  from  the  mill  the  day  before,  and  whom  he 
now  had  no  hesitation  in  fixing  upon  as  Mr.  Mansell. 

But  the  satisfaction  occasioned  by  the  settlement  of 
this  perplexing  question  was  dampened  somewhat  by  a 
sudden  and  uneasy  sense  of  being  himself  at  a  disadvan- 
tage. Why  he  should  feel  thus  he  did  not  know.  Per- 
haps the  almost  imperceptible  change  which  took  place 
in  that  gentleman's  face  as  their  eyes  first  met,  may  have 
caused  the  unlooked-for  sensation  ;  though  why  Mr. 
Mansell  should  change  at  the  sight  of  one  who  must  have 
been  a  perfect  stranger  to  him,  was  more  than  Mr.  Byrd 
could  understand.  It  was  enough  that  the  latter  felt  he 
had  made  a  mistake  in  not  having  donned  a  disguise 
before  entering  this  house,  and  that,  oppressed  by  the 
idea,  he  withdrew  his  attention  from  the  man  he  had 
come  to  watch,  and  fixed  it  upon  more  immediate  and 
personal  matters. 

The  meal  was  half  over.  Mr.  Byrd  who,  as  a  stranger 
of  more  than  ordinary  good  looks  and  prepossessing  man- 
ners, had  been  placed  by  the  obliging  landlady  between 
her  own  daughter  and  a  lady  of  doubtful  attractions,  was 
endeavoring  to  improve  his  advantages  and  make  him- 
self as  agreeable  as  possible  to  both  of  his  neighbors, 
when  he  heard  a  lady  near  him  say  aloud,  "  You  are  late. 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB,  1 79 

Mr.  Mansell,"  and,  looking  up  in  his  amazement,  saw- 
entering  the  door Well,  in  the  presence  of  the  real 

owner  of  this  name,  he  wondered  he  ever  could  have 
fixed  upon  the  other  man  as  the  original  of  the  person 
that  had  been  described  to  him.  The  strong  face,  the 
sombre  expression,  the  herculean  frame,  were  unique, 
and  in  the  comparison  which  they  inevitably  called  forth, 
made  all  other  men  in  the  room  look  dwarfed  if  not 
actually  commonplace. 

Greatly  surprised  at  this  new  turn  of  affairs,  and  satis- 
fied that  he  at  last  had  before  him  the  man  who  had  con- 
fronted Miss  Dare  in  the  Syracuse  depot,  he  turned  his 
attention  back  to  the  ladies.  He,  however,  took  care  to 
keep  one  ear  open  on  the  side  of  the  new-comer,  in  the 
hope  of  gleaning  from  his  style  and  manner  of  conversa- 
tion some  notion  of  his  disposition  and  nature. 

But  Craik  Mansell  was  at  no  time  a  talkative  man,  and 
at  this  especial  period  of  his  career  was  less  inclined  than 
ever  to  enter  into  the  trivial  debates  or  good-natured 
repartee  that  was  the  staple  of  conversation  at  Mrs. 
Hart's  table. 

So  Mr.  Byrd's  wishes  in  this  regard  were  foiled.  He 
succeeded,  however,  in  assuring  himself  by  a  square  look, 
into  the  other's  face,  that  to  w-hatever  temptation  this  man 
may  have  succumbed,  or  of  whatever  crime  he  may  have 
been  guilty,  he  was  by  nature  neither  cold,  cruel,  nor 
treacherous,  and  that  the  deadly  blow,  if  dealt  by  him, 
was   the  offspring  of   some    sudden    impulse    or  violent 


l8o  HAND   AND    KING. 

ebullition  of  temper,  and  was  being  repented  of  with 
every  breath  he  drew. 

But  this  discovery,  though  it  modified  Mr.  Byrd's  own 
sense  of  personal  revolt  against  the  man,  could  not  influ- 
ence him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  which  was  to  save 
another  of  less  interesting  and  perhaps  less  valuable  traits 
of  character  from  the  consequences  of  a  crime  he  had 
never  committed.  It  was,  therefore,  no  more  than  just, 
that,  upon  withdrawing  from  the  table,  he  should  endeavor 
to  put  himself  in  the  way  of  settUng  that  second  question, 
upon  whose  answer  in  the  affirmative  depended  the  right- 
ful establishment  of  his  secret  suspicions. 

That  was,  whether  this  young  man  was  at  or  near  the 
house  of  his  aunt  at  the  time  when  she  was  assaulted. 

Mrs.  Hart's  parlors  were  always  thrown  open  to  her 
boarders  in  the  evening. 

There,  at  any  time  from  seven  to  ten,  you  might  meet 
a  merry  crowd  of  young  people  intent  upon  enjoying 
themselves,  and  usually  highly  successful  in  their  endeav- 
ors to  do  so.  Into  this  throng  Mr.  Byrd  accordingly 
insinuated  himself,  and  being  of  the  sort  to  win  instant 
social  recognition,  soon  found  he  had  but  to  make  his 
choice  in  order  to  win  for  himself  that  tete-a-teie  conver- 
sation from  which  he  hoped  so  much.  He  consequently 
surveyed  the  company  with  a  critical  eye,  and  soon  made 
up  his  mind  as  to  which  lady  was  the  most  affable  in  her 
manners  and  the  least  likely  to  meet  his  advances  with 
haughty  reserve,  and  having  won  an   introduction  to  her, 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  l8l 

sat  down  at  her  side  with  the  stern  determination  of 
making  her  talk  about  Mr.  Mansell. 

"You  have  a  very  charming  company  here,"  he  re- 
marked ;  '*  the  house  seems  to  be  filled  with  a  most 
cheerful  class  of  people." 

"Yes,"  was  the  not-unlooked-for  reply.  "  We  are  all 
merry  enough  if  we  except  Mr.  Mansell.  But,  of  course, 
there  is  excuse  for  him.  No  one  expects  him  to  join  in 
our  sports." 

"  Mr.  Mansell  ?  the  gentleman  who  came  in  late  to 
supper  ? "  repeated  Mr.  Byrd,  with  no  suggestion  of  the 
secret  satisfaction  he  felt  at  the  immediate  success  of  his 
scheme. 

"  Yes,  he  is  in  great  trouble,  you  know  ;  is  the  nephew 
of  the  woman  who  was  killed  a  few  days  ago  at  Sibley, 
don't  you  remember  ?  The  widow  lady  who  was  struck 
on  the  head  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Hildreth,  and  who 
died  after  uttering  something  about  a  ring,  supposed  by 
many  to  be  an  attempt  on  her  part  to  describe  the  mur- 
derer ?  " 

"Yes,"  was  the  slow,  almost  languid,  response  ;  "  and 
a  dreadful  thing,  too  ;  quite  horrifying  in  its  nature.  And 
so  this  Mr.  Mansell  is  her  nephew  ? "  he  suggestively  re- 
peated. "  Odd  !  I  suppose  he  has  told  you  all  about  the 
affair  ?  " 

"  He  ?  Mercy  !  I  don't  suppose  you  could  get  him  to 
say  anything  about  it  to  save  your  life.  He  is  n't  of  the 
talking  sort.  Besides,  I  don't  believe  he  knows  any  more 
about  it  than  you  or  I.     He  has  n't  been  to  Sibley." 


l82  HAND  AND   RING. 

"  Did  n't  he  go  to  the  funeral  ?  " 

"  No  ;  he  said  he  was  too  ill  ;  and  indeed  he  was  shut 
up  one  whole  day  with  a  terrible  sore  throat.  He  is  the 
heir,  too,  of  all  her  savings,  they  say  ;  but  he  won't  go 
to  Sibley.     Some  folks  think  it  is  queer,  but  I " 

Here  her  eyes  wandered  and  her  almost  serious  look 
vanished  in  a  somewhat  coquettish  smile.  Following  her 
gaze  with  his  own,  Mr.  Byrd  perceived  a  gentleman  ap- 
proaching. It  was  the  one  he  had  first  taken  for  Mr. 
Mansell. 

"Beg  pardon,"  was  the  somewhat  abrupt  salutation 
with  which  this  person  advanced.  "  But  they  are  pro- 
posing a  game  in  the  next  room,  and  Miss  Clayton's  as- 
sistance is  considered  absolutely  indispensable." 

"Mr.  Brown,  first  allow  me  to  make  you  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Byrd,"  said  the  light-hearted  damsel,  with  a 
gracious  inclination.  "  As  you  are  both  strangers,  it  is 
well  for  you  to  know  each  other,  especially  as  I  expect 
you  to  join  in  our  games." 

"  Thank  you,"  protested  Mr.  Brown,  "  but  I  don't 
play  games."  Then  seeing  the  deep  bow  of  acquiescence 
which  Mr.  Byrd  was  making,  added,  with  what  appeared 
to  be  a  touch  of  jealousy,  "  Except  under  strong  provo- 
cation," and  holding  out  his  arm,  offered  to  escort  the 
young  lady  into  the  next  room. 

With  an  apologetic  glance  at  Mr.  Byrd,  she  accepted 
the  attention  proffered  her,  and  speedily  vanished  into 
the  midst  of  the  laughing  group  that  awaited  her. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  I83 

Mr.  Byid  found  himself  alone. 

"  Check  number  one,"  thought  he ;  and  he  bestowed 
any  thing  but  an  amiable  benediction  upon  the  man  who 
had  interrupted  him  in  the  midst  of  so  promising  a  con- 
versation. 

His  next  move  was  in  the  direction  of  the  landlady's 
daughter,  who,  being  somewhat  shy,  favored  a  retired 
nook  behind  the  piano.  They  had  been  neighbors  at 
table,  and  he  could  at  once  address  her  without  fear  of 
seeming  obtrusive. 

"I  do  not  see  here  the  dark  young  gentleman  whom 
you  call  Mr.  Mansell  ?  "  he  remarked,  inquiringly, 

"  Oh,  no  ;  he  is  in  trouble.  A  near  relative  of  his  was 
murdered  in  cold  blood  the  other  day,  and  under  the 
most  aggravating  circumstances.  Have  n't  you  heard 
about  it  ?  She  was  a  Mrs.  Clemmens,  and  lived  in  Sibley. 
It  was  in  all  the  papers." 

"  Ah,  yes  ;  I  remember  about  it  very  well.  And  so  he 
is  her  nephew,"  he  went  on,  recklessly  repeating  himself 
in  his  determination  to  elicit  all  he  could  from  these 
young  and  thoughtless  misses.  "  A  peculiar-looking 
young  man  ;  has  the  air  of  thoroughly  understanding 
himself." 

"  Yes,  he  is  very  smart,  they  say." 

"  Does  he  never  talk  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  that  is,  he  used  to  ;  but,  since  his  aunt's 
death,  we  don't  expect  it.  He  is  very  much  interested  in 
machinery,  and  has  invented  something " 


1 84  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Oh,  Clara,  you  are  not  going  to  sit  here,"  interposed 
the  reproachful  voice  of  a  saucy-eyed  maiden,  who  at  this 
moment  peeped  around  the  corner  of  the  piano.  "  We 
w&nt  all  the  recruits  we  can  get,"  she  cried,  with  a  sud- 
den blush,  as  she  encountered  the  glance  of  Mr.  Byrd. 
"  Do  come,  and  bring  the  gentleman  too."  And  she 
slipped  away  to  join  that  very  Mr.  Brown  who,  by  his  im- 
portunities, had  been  the  occasion  of  the  former  interrup- 
tion from  which  Mr.  Byrd  had  suffered. 

"  That  man  and  I  will  quarrel  yet,"  was  the  mental 
exclamation  with  which  the  detective  rose.  "  Shall  we 
join  your  friends  ?  "  asked  he,  assuming  an  unconcern  he 
was  far  from  feeling. 

"  Yes,  if  you  please,"  was  the  somewhat  timid,  though 
evidently  pleased,  reply. 

And  Mr.  Byrd  noted  down  in  his  own  mind  check 
number  two. 

The  game  was  a  protracted  one.  Twice  did  he  think 
to  escape  from  the  merry  crowd  he  had  entered,  and 
twice  did  he  fail  to  do  so.  The  indefatigable  Brown 
would  not  let  him  slip,  and  it  was  only  by  a  positive 
exertion  of  his  will  that  he  finally  succeeded  in  withdraw- 
ing himself. 

"  I  wish  to  have  a  word  with  your  mother,"  he  ex- 
plained, in  reply  to  the  look  of  protest  with  which  Miss 
Hart  honored  his  departure.  "  I  hear  she  retires  early  ; 
so  you  will  excuse  me  if  I  leave  somewhat  abruptly." 

And  to  Mrs.  Hart's  apartment  he  at  once  proceeded, 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  185 

and,  by  dint  of  his  easy  assurance,  soon  succeeded  in 
leading  her,  as  he  had  already  done  the  rest,  into  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  one  topic  for  which  he  had  an  interest. 
He  had  not  time,  however,  to  glean  much  from  her,  for, 
just  as  she  was  making  the  admission  that  Mr.  Mansell 
had  not  been  home  at  the  time  of  the  murder,  a  knock 
was  heard  at  the  door,  and,  with  an  affable  bow  and  a 
short,  quick  stare  of  surprise  at  Mr.  Byrd,  the  ubiquitous 
Mr.  Brown  stepped  in  and  took  a  seat  on  the  sofa,  with 
every  appearance  of  intending  to  make  a  call. 

At  this  third  check,  Mr.  Byrd  was  more  than  annoyed. 
Rising,  however,  with  the  most  amiable  courtesy,  he 
bowed  his  acknowledgments  to  the  landlady,  and,  without 
heeding  her  pressing  invitation  to  remain  and  make  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Brown,  left  the  room  and  betook 
himself  back  to  the  parlors. 

He  was  just  one  minute  too  late.  The  last  of  the 
boarders  had  gone  up-stairs,  and  only  an  empty  room  met 
his  eyes. 

He  at  once  ascended  to  his  own  apartment.  It  was  on 
the  fourth  floor.  There  were  many  other  rooms  on  this 
floor,  and  for  a  moment  he  could  not  remember  which 
was  his  own  door.  At  last,  however,  he  felt  sure  it  was 
the  third  one  from  the  stairs,  and,  going  to  it,  gave  a 
short  knock  in  case  of  mistake,  and,  hearing  no  reply, 
opened  it  and  went  in. 

The  first  glance  assured  him  that  his  recollection  had 
played  him  false,  and  that  he  was  in  the  wrong  room. 


1 86  HAND   AND    RING. 

The  second,  that  he  was  in  that  of  Mr.  Mansell.  The 
sight  of  the  small  model  of  a  delicate  and  intricate 
machine  that  stood  in  full  view  on  a  table  before  him 
would  have  been  sufficient  assurance  of  this  fact,  even  if 
the  inventor  himself  had  been  absent.  But  he  was  there. 
Seated  at  a  table,  with  his  back  to  the  door,  and  his  head 
bowed  forward  on  his  arms,  he  presented  such  a  picture 
of  misery  or  despair,  that  Mr.  Byrd  felt  his  sympathies 
touched  in  spite  of  himself,  and  hastily  stumbling  back- 
ward, was  about  to  confusedly  withdraw,  when  a  doubt 
struck  him  as  to  the  condition  of  the  deathly,  still,  and 
somewhat  pallid  figure  before  him,  and,  stepping  hurriedly 
forward,  he  spoke  the  young  man's  name,  and,  failing  to 
elicit  a  response,  laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  with  an 
apology  for  disturbing  him,  and  an  inquiry  as  to  how  he 
felt. 

The  touch  acted  where  the  voice  had  failed.  Leaping 
from  his  partly  recumbent  position,  Craik  Mansell  faced 
the  intruder  with  indignant  inquiry  written  in  every  line 
of  his  white  and  determined  face. 

"  To  what  do  I  owe  this  intrusion  ? "  he  cried,  his 
nostrils  expanding  and  contracting  with  an  anger  that 
proved  the  violence  of  his  nature  when  aroused. 

"  First,   to   my   carelessness,"   responded    Mr.    Byrd ; 

and,  secondly "     But  there  he  paused,  for  the  first 

time  in  his  life,  perhaps,  absolutely  robbed  of  speech. 
His  eye  had  fallen  upon  a  picture  that  the  other  held 
clutched  in  his  vigorous  right  hand.     It  was  a  photo- 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  187 

graph  of  Imogene  Dare,  and  it  was  made  conspicuous  by 
two  heavy  black  lines  which  had  been  relentlessy  drawn 
across  the  face  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  "Secondly,"  he 
went  on,  after  a  moment,  resolutely  tearing  his  gaze  away 
from  this  startling  and  suggestive  object,  "  to  my  fears. 
I  thought  you  looked  ill,  and  could  not  forbear  making 
an  effort  to  reassure  myself  that  all  was  right." 

"  Thank  you,"  ejaculated  the  other,  in  a  heavy  weari- 
ful tone.  "  I  am  perfectly  well."  And  with  a  short  bow 
he  partially  turned  his  back,  with  a  distinct  intimation 
that  he  desired  to  be  left  alone. 

Mr.  Byrd  could  not  resist  this  appeal.  Glad  as  he 
would  have  been  for  even  a  moment's  conversation  with 
this  man,  he  was,  perhaps  unfortunately,  too  much  of  a 
gentleman  to  press  himself  forward  against  the  expressed 
wishes  even  of  a  suspected  criminal.  He  accordingly 
withdrew  to  the  door,  and  was  about  to  open  it  and  go 
out,  when  it  was  flung  violently  forward,  and  the  ever- 
obtrusive  Brown  stepped  in. 

This  second  intrusion  was  more  than  unhappy  Mr. 
Mansell  could  stand.  Striding  passionately  forward,  he 
met  the  unblushing  Brown  at  full  tilt,  and  angrily  point- 
ing to  the  door,  asked  if  it  was  not  the  custom  of  gentle- 
men to  knock  before  entering  the  room  of  strangers. 

"  I  beg  pardon,"  said  the  other,  backing  across  the 
threshold,  with  a  profuse  display  of  confusion.  "  I  had 
no  idea  of  its  being  a  stranger's  room.  I  thought  it  was 
my  own.     I — I  was  sure  that  my  door  was  the  third  from 


l88  HAND   AND    RING. 

the  stairs.  Excuse  me,  excuse  me."  And  he  bustled 
noisily  out. 

This  precise  reproduction  of  his  own  train  of  thought 
and  action  confounded  Mr.  Byrd. 

Turning  with  a  deprecatory  glance  to  the  perplexed 
and  angry  occupant  of  the  room,  he  said  something 
about  not  knowing  the  person  who  had  just  left  them  ; 
and  then,  conscious  that  a  further  contemplation  of  the 
stern  and  suffering  countenance  before  him  would  un- 
nerve him  for  the  duty  he  had  to  perform,  hurriedly 
withdrew. 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  1 89 


XIV. 


A   LAST    ATTEMPT. 


■When  Fortune  means  to  men  most  good. 

She  looks  upon  them  with  a  threatening  eye.— King  John. 

THE  sleep  of  Horace  Byrd  that  night  was  any  thing 
but    refreshing.      In    the    first    place,    he    was 
troubled   about  this  fellow  Brown,  whose  last  imperti- 
nence showed   he  was    a    man  to   be   watched,  and,  if 
possible,  understood.     Secondly,  he  was  haunted  by  a 
vision  of  the  unhappy  youth  he  had  just  left ;    seeing, 
again  and  again,  both  in  his  dreams  and  in  the  rush  of 
heated  fancies  which  followed  his  awaking,  that  picture^ 
of  utter  despair  which  the  opening  of  his  neighbor's  door 
had  revealed.     He  could  not  think  of  that  poor  mortal 
as  sleeping.     Whether  it  was  the  result  of  his  own  sym- 
pathetic admiration  for  Miss  Dare,  or  of  some  subtle  clair- 
voyance bestowed  upon  him  by  the  darkness  and  still- 
ness of  the  hour,  he  felt  assured  that  the  quiet  watch  he 
had  interrupted  by  his  careless  importunity,  had  been 
again  established,  and  that  if  he  could  tear  down  the 
partition  separating  their  two  rooms,  he  should  see  that 
bowed  form  and  buried  face  crouched  despairingly  above 
the  disfigured  picture.    The  depths  of  human  misery  and 
the  maddening  passions  that  underlie  all  crime  had  been 


190  HAND   AND   RING. 

revealed  to  him  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in  all  their 
terrible  suggestiveness,  and  he  asked  himself  over  and 
over  as  he  tossed  on  his  uneasy  pillow,  if  he  possessed 
the  needful  determination  to  carry  on  the  scheme  he  had 
undertaken,  in  face  of  the  unreasoning  sympathies  which 
the  fathomless  misery  of  this  young  man  had  aroused. 
Under  the  softening  influences  of  the  night,  he  answered, 
No  ;  but  when  the  sunlight  came  and  the  full  flush  of 
life  with  its  restless  duties  and  common  necessities  awoke 
within  him,  he  decided,  Yes. 

Mr.  Mansell  was  not  at  the  breakfast-table  when  Mr. 
Byrd  came  down.  His  duties  at  the  mill  were  peremp- 
tory, and  he  had  already  taken  his  coffee  and  gone.  But 
Mr.  Brown  was  there,  and  at  sight  of  him  Mr.  Byrd's 
caution  took  alarm,  and  he  bestowed  upon  this  intrusive 
busybody  a  close  and  searching  scrutiny.  It,  however, 
elicited  nothing  in  the  way  of  his  own  enlightenment  be- 
yond the  fact  that  this  fellow,  total  stranger  though  he 
seemed,  was  for  some  inexplicable  reason  an  enemy  to 
himself  or  his  plans. 

Not  that  Mr.  Brown  manifested  this  by  any  offensive 
token  of  dislike  or  even  of  mistrust.  On  the  contrary, 
he  was  excessively  polite,  and  let  slip  no  opportunity  of 
dragging  Mr.  Byrd  into  the  conversation.  Yet,  for  all 
that,  a  secret  influence  was  already  at  work  against  the 
detective,  and  he  coyld  not  attribute  it  to  any  other 
source  than  the  jealous  efforts  of  this  man.  Miss  Hart 
was  actually  curt  to  him,  and   in  the   attitude   of   the 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  I9I 

various  persons  about  the  board  he  detected  a  certain  re- 
serve which  had  been  entirely  absent  from  their  manner 
the  evening  before. 

But  while  placing,  as  he  thought,  due  weight  upon  this 
fellow's  animosity,  he  had  no  idea  to  what  it  would  lead, 
till  he  went  up-stairs.  Mrs.  Hart,  who  had  hitherto 
treated  him  with  the  utmost  cordiality,  now  called  him 
into  the  parlor,  and  told  him  frankly  that  she  would  be 
obliged  to  him  if  he  would  let  her  have  his  room.  To  be 
sure,  she  qualified  the  seeming  harshness  of  her  request 
by  an  intimation  that  a  permanent  occupant  had  applied 
for  it,  and  offered  to  pay  his  board  at  the  hotel  till 
he  could  find  a  room  to  suit  him  in  another  house  ;  but 
the  fact  remained  that  she  was  really  in  a  flutter  to  rid 
herself  of  him,  and  no  subterfuge  could  hide  it,  and  Mr. 
Byrd,  to  whose  plans  the  full  confidence  of  those  around 
him  was  essential,  found  himself  obliged  to  acquiesce  in 
her  desires,  and  announce  at  once  his  willingness  to  de- 
part. 

Instantly  she  was  all  smiles,  and  overwhelmed  him  with 
overtures  of  assistance  ;  but  he  courteously  declined  her 
help,  and,  flying  from  her  apologies  with  what  speed  he 
could,  went  immediately  to  his  room.  Here  he  sat  down 
to  deliberate. 

The  facts  he  had  gleaned,  despite  the  interference  of 
his  unknown  enemy,  were  three  : 

First,  that  Craik  Mansell  had  found  excuses  for  not  at- 
tending the  inquest,  or  even  the  funeral,  of  his  murdered 
aunt. 


192  HAND   AND    RING. 

Secondly,  that  he  had  a  strong  passion  for  invention, 
and  had  even  now  the  model  of  a  machine  on  hand. 

And  third,  that  he  was  not  at  home,  wherever  else 
he  may  have  been,  on  the  morning  of  the  murder  in 
Sibley. 

"  A  poor  and  meagre  collection  of  insignificant  facts," 
thought  Mr.  Byrd.  "  Too  poor  and  meagre  to  avail 
much  in  stemming  the  tide  threatening  to  overwhelm 
Gouverneur  Hildreth," 

But  what  opportunity  remained  for  making  them 
weightier  ?  He  was  turned  from  the  house  that  held  the 
few  persons  from  whom  he  could  hope  to  glean  more 
complete  and  satisfactory  information,  and  he  did 
not  know  where  else  to  seek  it  unless  he  went  to  the 
mill.  And  this  was  an  alternative  from  which  he  shrank, 
as  it  would,  in  the  first  place,  necessitate  a  revelation  of  his 
real  character  ;  and,  secondly,  make  known  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Mansell  was  under  the  surveillance  of  the  police,  if 
not  in  the  actual  attitude  of  a  suspected  man. 

A  quick  and  hearty,  "  Shure,  you  are  very  good, 
sir  !  "  uttered  in  the  hall  without  roused  him  from  his 
meditations  and  turned  his  thoughts  in  a  new  direction. 
What  if  he  could  learn  something  from  the  servants  ?  He 
had  not  thought  of  them.  This  girl,  now,  whose  work 
constantly  carried  her  into  the  various  rooms  on  this 
floor,  would,  of  course,  know  whether  Mr.  Mansell  had 
been  away  on  the  day  of  the  murder,  even  if  she 
could  not  tell  the  precise  time   of  his    return.     At  all 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A  WEB,  I93 

events,  it  was  worth  while  to  test  her  with  a  question 
or  two  before  he  left,  even  if  he  had  to  resort  to  the 
means  of  spurring  her  memory  with  money.  His  failure 
in  other  directions  did  not  necessitate  a  failure  here. 

He  accordingly  called  her  in,  and  showing  her  a 
bright  silver  dollar,  asked  her  if  she  thought  it  good 
enough  pay  for  a  short  answer  to  a  simple  question. 

To  his  great  surprise  she  blushed  and  drew  back,  shak- 
ing her  head  and  muttering  that  her  mistress  did  n't  like 
to  have  the  girls  talk  to  the  young  men  about  the  house, 
and  finally  going  off  with  a  determined  toss  of  her  frowsy 
head,  that  struck  Mr.  Byrd  aghast,  and  made  him  be- 
lieve more  than  ever  that  his  evil  star  hung  in  the  ascend- 
ant, and  that  the  sooner  he  quit  the  house  the  better. 

In  ten  minutes  he  was  in  the  street. 

But  one  thing  now  remained  for  him  to  do.  He  must 
make  the  acquaintance  of  one  ^pf  the  mill-owners,  or 
possibly  of  an  overseer  or  accountant,  and  from  him  learn 
where  Mr.  Mansell  had  been  at  the  time  of  his  aunt's 
murder.  To  this  duty  he  devoted  the  day  ;  but  here 
also  he  was  met  by  unexpected  difficulties.  Though  he 
took  pains  to  disguise  himself  before  proceeding  to  the 
mill,  all  the  endeavors  which  he  made  to  obtain  an  inter- 
view there  with  any  responsible  person  were  utterly  fruit- 
less. Whether  his  ill-luck  at  the  house  had  followed  him 
to  this  place  he  could  not  tell,  but,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  there  was  not  one  of  the  gentlemen  for  whom  he 
inquired  but  had  some  excuse  for  not  seeing  him  ;  and, 


194  HAND   AND   RING. 

worn  out  at  last  with  repeated  disappointments,  if  not 
oppressed  by  the  doubtful  looks  he  received  from  the 
various  subordinates  who  carried  his  messages,  he  left  the 
building,  and  proceeded  to  make  use  of  the  only  means 
now  left  him  of  compassing  his  end. 

This  was  to  visit  Mr.  Goodman,  the  one  member  of  the 
firm  who  was  not  at  his  post  that  day,  and  see  if  from 
him  he  could  gather  the  single  fact  he  was  in  search  of. 

"  Perhaps  the  atmosphere  of  distrust  with  which  I  am 
surrounded  in  this  quarter  has  not  reached  this  gentle- 
man's house,"  thought  he.  And  having  learned  from  the 
directory  where  that  house  was,  he  proceeded  immedi- 
ately to  it. 

His  reception  was  by  no  means  cordial.  Mr.  Good- 
man had  been  ill  the  night  before,  and  was  in  no  mood 
to  see  strangers. 

"  Mansell  ? "  he  coolly  repeated,  in  acknowledgment 
of  the  other's  inquiry  as  to  whether  he  had  a  person  of 
that  name  in  his  employ.  "  Yes,  our  book-keeper's 
name  is  Mansell.  May  I  ask  " — and  here  Mr,  Byrd  felt 
himself  subjected  to  a  thorough,  if  not  severe,  scrutiny— 
"  why  you  come  to  me  with  inquiries  concerning  him  ?" 

"  Because,"  the  determined  detective  responded,  adopt- 
ing at  once  the  bold  course,  "you  can  put  me  in  posses- 
sion of  a  fact  which  it  eminently  befits  the  cause  of 
justice  to  know.  I  am  an  emissary,  sir,  from  the  District 
Attorney  at  Sibley  ,  and  the  point  I  want  settled  is, 
where  Mr.  Mansell  was  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  September  ?" 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  I95 

This  was  business,  and  the  look  that  involuntarily 
leaped  into  Mr.  Goodman's  eye  proved  that  he  considered 
it  so.  He  did  not  otherwise  betray  this  feeling,  however, 
but  turned  quite  calmly  toward  a  chair,  into  which  he 
slowly  settled  himself  before  replying  : 

"  And  why  do  you  not  ask  the  gentleman  himself  where 
he  was  ?  He  probably  would  be  quite  ready  to  tell  you." 
The  inflection  he  gave  to  these  words  warned  Mr. 
Byrd  to  be  careful.  The  truth  was,  Mr.  Goodman  was 
Mr.  Mansell's  best  friend,  and  as  such  had  his  own 
reasons  for  not  being  especially  communicative  in  his 
regard,  to  this  stranger.  The  detective  vaguely  felt  this, 
and  immediately  changed  his  manner. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  of  that,  sir,"  he  ingenuously  answered. 
"  But  Mr.  Mansell  has  had  so  much  to  distress  him  lately, 
that  I  was  desirous  of  saving  him  from  the  unpleasant- 
ness which  such  a  question  would  necessarily  cause.     It 
is  only  a  small  matter,  sir.     A  person — it  is  not  essential 
to   state   whom — has   presumed   to   raise    the    question 
among  the  authorities  in  Sibley  as  to  whether  Mr.  Man- 
sell,  as  heir   of  poor   Mrs.    Clemmens'   small   property, 
might  not  have  had   some  hand  in  her  dreadful  death. 
There  was  no  proof  to  sustain  the  assumption,  and  Mr. 
Mansell  was  not  even  known  to  have  been  in  the  town  on 
or   after   the   day  of   her   murder  ;    but   justice,  having 
listened  to  the  aspersion,  felt  bound  to  satisfy  itself  of  its 
falsity  ;  and  I  was  sent  here  to  learn  where  Mr.  Mansell 
was  upon  that  fatal  day.     I  find  he  was  not  in  Buffalo. 


196  HAND  AND   RING. 

But  this  does  not  mean  he  was  in  Sibley,  and  I  am  sure 
that,  if  you  will,  you  can  supply  me  with  facts  that  will 
lead  to  a  complete  and  satisfactory  alibi  for  him." 

But  the  hard  caution  of  the  other  was  not  to  be  moved. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  said  he,  "  but  I  can  give  you  no  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  Mr.  Mansell's  travels.  You  will  have 
to  ask  the  gentleman  himself," 

"  You  did  not  send  him  out  on  business  of  your  own, 
then  ? " 

''No." 

"  But  you  knew  he  was  going  ?  '* 

"  Yes." 

"  And  can  tell  when  he  came  back  ?  " 

"  He  was  in  his  place  on  Wednesday." 

The  cold,  dry  nature  of  these  replies  convinced  Mr. 
Byrd  that  something  more  than  the  sullen  obstinacy  of 
an  uncommunicative  man  lay  behind  this  determined 
reticence.  Looking  at  Mr.  Goodman  inquiringly,  he 
calmly  remarked  : 

"  You  are  a  friend  of  Mr.  Mansell  ?  " 

The  answer  came  quick  and  coldly  : 

"  He  is  a  constant  visitor  at  my  house." 

Mr.  Byrd  made  a  respectful  bow. 

"  You  can,  then,  have  no  doubts  of  his  ability  to  prove 
an  alibi?  " 

"  I  have  no  doubts  concerning  Mr.  Mansell,"  was  the 
stern  and  uncompromising  reply. 

Mr.  Byrd  at  once  felt  he  had  received  his  dismissal. 
But  before  making  up  his  mind  to  go,  he  resolved  upon 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  I97 

one  further  effort.  Calling  to  his  aid  his  full  power  of 
acting,  he  slowly  shook  his  head  with  a  thoughtful  air, 
and  presently  murmured  half  aloud  and  half,  as  it  were, 
to  himself  : 

"  I  thought,  possibly,  he  might  have  gone  to  Washing- 
ton." Then,  with  a  casual  glance  at  Mn  Goodman, 
added  :  "  He  is  an  inventor,  I  believe  ?" 

"  Yes,"  was  again  .the  laconic  response. 

"  Has  he  not  a  machine  at  present  which  he  desires  to 
bring  to  the  notice  of  some  capitalist  ?  " 

"  I  believe  he  has,"  was  the  forced  and  none  too  amia- 
ble answer. 

Mr.  Byrd  at  once  leaned  confidingly  forward. 

"  Don't  you  think,"  he  asked,  "  that  he  may  have  gone 
to  New  York  to  consult  with  some  one  about  this  pet 
hobby  of  his  ?  It  would  certainly  be  a  natural  thing  for 
him  to  do,  and  if  I  only  knew  it  was  so,  I  could  go  back 
to  Sibley  with  an  easy  conscience." 

His  disinterested  air,  and  the  tone  of  kindly  concern 
which  he  had  adopted,  seemed  at  last  to  produce  its  effect 
on  his  companion.  Relaxing  a  trifle  of  his  austerity,  Mr. 
Goodman  went  so  far  as  to  admit  that  Mr.  Mansell  had 
told  him  that  business  connected  with  his  patent  had 
called  him  out  of  town  ;  but  beyond  this  he  would  allow 
nothing  ;  and  Mr.  Byrd,  baffled  in  his  attempts  to  elicit 
from  this  man  any  distinct  acknowledgment  of  Mr.  Man- 
sell's  whereabouts  at  the  critical  time  of  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
death,  made  a  final  bow  and  turned  toward  the  door. 

It  was  only  at  this  moment  he   discovered   that  Mr. 


198  HAND   AND    RING. 

Goodman  and  himself  had  not  been  alone  in  the  room  ; 
that  curled  up  in  one  of  the  window-seats  was  a  little  girl 
of  some  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age,  who  at  the  first  tokens 
of  his  taking  his  departure  slipped  shyly  down  to  the 
floor  and  ran  before  him  out  into  the  hall.  He  found 
her  by  the  front  door  when  he  arrived  there.  She  was 
standing  with  her  hand  on  the  knob,  and  presented  such 
a  picture  of  childish  eagerness,  tempered  by  childish  ti- 
midity, that  he  involuntarily  paused  before  her  with  a 
smile.     She  needed  no  further  encouragement. 

"  Oh,  sir,  I  know  about  Mr.  Mansell  !  "  she  cried.  "  He 
was  n't  in  that  place  you  talk  about,  for  he  wrote  a  letter 
to  papa  just  the  day  before  he  came  back,  and  the  post- 
mark on  the  envelope  was  Monteith.  I  remember,  be- 
cause it  was  the  name  of  the  man  who  made  our  big 
map."  And,  looking  up  with  that  eager  zeal  which  marks 
the  liking  of  very  little  folks  for  some  one  favorite  person 
among  their  grown  acquaintances,  she  added,  earnestly  : 
"  I  do  hope  you  won't  let  them  say  any  thing  bad  about 
Mr.  Mansell,  he  is  so  good." 

And  without  waiting  for  a  reply,  she  ran  off,  her  curls 
dancing,  her  eyes  sparkling,  all  her  little  innocent  form 
alive  with  the  joy  of  having  done  a  kindness,  as  she 
thought,  for  her  favorite,  Mr.  Mansell. 

Mr.  Byrd,  on  the  contrary,  felt  a  strange  pang  that  the 
information  he  had  sought  for  so  long  and  vainly  should 
come  at  last  from  the  lips  of  an  innocent  child. 

Monteith,  as  you  remember,  was  the  next  station  to 
Sibley. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A    WEB,  199 


XV. 

THE  END  OF  A  TORTUOUS  PATH. 
Thus  bad  begias  and  worse  remains  behind. — Hamlet. 

THE  arrest  of  Mr.  Hildreth  had  naturally  quieted 
public  suspicion  by  fixing  attention  upon  a  defi- 
nite point,  so  that  when  Mr.  Byrd  returned  to  Sibley  he 
found  that  he  could  pursue  whatever  inquiries  he  chose 
without  awakening  the  least  mistrust  that  he  was  on  the 
look-out  for  the  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemmens. 

The  first  use  he  made  of  his  time  was  to  find  out  if  Mr. 
Mansell,  or  any  man  answering  to  his  description,  had 
been  seen  to  take  the  train  from  the  Sibley  station  on  the 
afternoon  or  evening  of  the  fatal  Tuesday.  The  result 
was  unequivocal.  No  such  person  had  heen  seen  there, 
and  no  such  person  was  believed  to  have  been  at  the 
station  at  any  time  during  that  day.  This  was  his  first 
disappointment. 

He  next  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  conductors  on 
that  line  of  street-cars  by  means  of  which  he  believed 
Mr.  Mansell  to  have  made  his  escape.  But  with  no  bet- 
ter result.  Not  one  of  them  remembered  having  taken 
up,  of  late,  any  passenger  from  the  terminus,  of  the  ap- 
pearance described  by  Mr.  Byrd. 

And  this  was  his  second  disappointment. 


200  HAND   AND    RING. 

His  next  duty  was  obviously  to  change  his  plan  of 
action  and  make  the  town  of  Monteith  the  centre  of  his 
inquiries.  But  he  hesitated  to  do  this  till  he  had  made  one 
other  visit  to  the  woods  in  whose  recesses  he  still  be- 
lieved the  murderer  to  have  plunged  immediately  upon 
dealing  the  fatal  blow. 

He  went  by  the  way  of  the  street  railroad,  not  wishing 
to  be  again  seen  crossing  the  bog,  and  arrived  at  the  hut 
in  the  centre  of  the  glade  without  meeting  any  one  or 
experiencing  the  least  adventure. 

This  time  he  went  in,  but  nothing  was  to  be  seen  save 
bare  logs,  a  rough  hearth  where  a  fire  had  once  been 
built,  and  the  rudest  sort  of  bench  and  table  ;  and  hurry- 
ing forth  again,  he  looked  doubtfully  up  and  down  the 
glade  in  pursuit  of  some  hint  to  guide  him  in  his  future 
researches. 

Suddenly  he  received  one.  The  thick  wall  of  foliage 
which  at  first  glance  revealed  but  the  two  outlets  already 
traversed  by  him,  showed  upon  close  inspection  a  third 
path,  opening  well  behind  the  hut,  and  leading,  as  he 
soon  discovered,  in  an  entirely  opposite  direction  from 
that  which  had  taken  him  to  West  Side.  Merely  stop- 
ping to  cast  one  glance  at  the  sun,  which  was  still  well 
overhead,  he  set  out  on  this  new  path.  It  was  longer  and 
much  more  intricate  than  the  other.  It  led  through  hol- 
lows and  up  steeps,  and  finally  out  into  an  open  black- 
berry patch,  where  it  seemed  to  terminate.  But  a  close 
study    of     the     surrounding     bushes,     soon     disclosed 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  201 

signs  of  a  narrow  and  thread-like  passage  curving  about  a 
rocky  steep.  Entering  this  he  presently  found  himself 
drawn  again  into  the  woods,  which  he  continued  to  trav- 
erse till  he  came  to  a  road  cut  through  the  heart  of  the 
forest,  for  the  use  of  the  lumbermen.  Here  he  paused. 
Should  he  turn  to  the  right  or  left  ?  He  decided  to  turn 
to  the  right.  Keeping  in  the  road,  which  was  rough  with 
stones  where  it  was  not  marked  with  the  hoofs  of  both 
horses  and  cattle,  he  walked  for  some  distance.  Then  he 
emerged  into  open  space  again,  and  discovered  that  he 
was  on  the  hillside  overlooking  Monteith,  and  that  by  a 
mile  or  two's  further  walk  over  the  highway  that  was 
dimly  to  be  descried  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  he  would 
reach  the  small  station  devoted  to  the  uses  of  the  quarry- 
men  that  worked  in  this  place. 

There  was  no  longer  any  further  doubt  that  this  route, 
and  not  the  other,  had  been  the  one  taken  by  Mr.  Man- 
sell  on  that  fatal  afternoon.  But  he  was  determined  not 
to  trust  any  further  to  mere  surmises  ;  so  hastening  down 
the  hill,  he  made  his  way  in  the  direction  of  the  highway, 
meanijig  to  take  the  walk  alluded  to,  and  learn  for  him- 
self what  passengers  had  taken  the  train  at  this  point  on 
the  Tuesday  afternoon  so  often  mentioned. 

But  a  barrier  rose  in  his  way.  A  stream  which  he  had 
barely  noticed  in  the  quick  glance  he  threw  over  the  land- 
scape from  the  brow  of  the  hill,  separated  with  quite  a 
formidable  width  of  water  the  hillside  from  the  road,  and 
it  was  not  till  he  wandered  back  for  some  distance  along 


202  HAND   AND   KING. 

its  banks,  that  he  found  a  bridge.  The  time  thus  lost  was 
considerable,  but  he  did  not  think  of  it  ;  and  when,  after  a 
long  and  weary  tramp,  he  stepped  upon  the  platform  of 
the  small  station,  he  was  so  eager  to  learn  if  he  had  cor- 
rectly followed  the  scent,  that  he  forgot  to  remark  that 
the  road  he  had  taken  was  any  thing  but  an  easy  or 
feasible  one   for  a  hasty  escape. 

The  accommodation-trains,  which  alone  stop  at  this 
point,  had  both  passed,  and  he  found  the  station-master 
at  leisure.  A  single  glance  into  his  honest  and  intelli- 
gent face  convinced  the  detective  that  he  had  a  reliable 
man  to  deal  with.    He  at  once  commenced  his  questions. 

"  Do  many  persons  besides  the  quarrymen  take  the 
train  at  this  place  ? "  asked  he. 

"  Not  many,"  was  the  short  but  sufificiently  good- 
natured  rejoinder.  ''  I  guess  I  could  easily  count  them 
on  the  fingers  of  one  hand,"  he  laughed. 

"  You  would  be  apt  to  notice,  then,  if  a  strange  gentle- 
man got  on  board  here  at  any  time,  would  you  not  ? " 

"  Guess  so  ;  not  often  troubled  that  way,  but  some- 
times— sometimes." 

"  Can  you  tell  me  whether  a  young  man  of  very  dark 
complexion,  heavy  mustache,  and  a  determined,  if  not 
excited,  expression,  took  the  cars  here  for  Monteith,  say, 
any  day  last  week  ? " 

"I  don't  know,"  mused  the  man.  "  Dark  complexion, 
you  say,  large  mustache  ;  let  me  see." 

"No  dandy,"   Mr.   Byrd   carefully  explained,  "but  a 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A    WEB.  203 

strong  man,  who  believes  in  work.  He  was  possibly  in  a 
state  of  somewhat  nervous  hurry,"  he  went  on,  suggest- 
ively, "  and  if  he  wore  an  overcoat  at  all,  it  was  a  gray 
one." 

The  face  of  the  man  lighted  up. 

"  I  seem  to  remember,"  saia  he.  "  Did  he  have  a  very 
bright  blue  eye  and  a  high  color  ? " 

Mr.  Byrd  nodded. 

"  And  did  he  carry  a  peculiarly  shaped  bag,  of  which 
he  was  very  careful  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Mr.  Byrd,  but  remembering  the 
model,  added  with  quick  assurance,  "  I  have  no  doubt  he 
did  "  ;  which  seemed  to  satisfy  the  other,  for  he  at  once 
cried  : 

"  I  recollect  such  a  person  very  well.  I  noticed  him 
before  he  got  to  the  station  ;  as  soon  in  fact  as  he  came 
in  sight.  He  was  walking  down  the  highway,  and  seemed 
to  be  thinking  about  something.  He  's  of  the  kind  to 
attract  attention.     What  about  him,  sir?" 

"  Nothing.  He  was  in  trouble  of  some  kind,  and  he 
went  from  home  without  saying  where  he  was  going  ; 
and  his  friends  are  anxious  about  him,  that  is  all.  Do 
you  think  you  could  swear  to  his  face  if  you  saw  it  ? " 

"  I  think  I  could.  He  was  the  only  stranger  that  got 
on  to  the  cars  that  afternoon." 

"  Do  you  remember,  then,  the  day  ?  " 

"  Well,  no,  now,  I  don't." 

"  But  can't  you,  if  you  try  ?  Was  n't  there  something 
done  by  you  that  day  which  will  assist  your  memory  ? " 


204  HAND   AND   RING. 

Again  that  slow  "  Let  me  see  "  showed  that  the  man 
was  pondering.  Suddenly  he  slapped  his  thigh  and  ex- 
claimed : 

"  You  might  be  a  lawyer's  clerk  now,  might  n't  you  ; 
or,  perhaps,  a  lawyer  himself  ?  I  do  remember  that  a 
large  load  of  stone  was  sent  off  that  day,  and  a  minute's 

look  at   my  book It  was   Tuesday,"  he  presently 

affirmed. 

Mr.  Byrd  drew  a  deep  breath.  There  is  sadness  mixed 
with  the  satisfaction  of  such  a  triumph. 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,"  he  said,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  other's  trouble.  "  The  friends  of  this  gentle- 
man will  now  have  little  difficulty  in  tracing  him.  There 
is  but  one  thing  further  I  should  like  to  make  sure  of." 

And  taking  from  his  memorandum-book  the  picture  he 
kept  concealed  there,  he  showed  him  the  face  of  Mr. 
Mansell,  now  altered  to  a  perfect  likeness,  and  asked  him 
if  he  recognized  it. 

The  decided  Yes  which  he  received  made  further 
questions  unnecessary. 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  20$ 


XVI. 

STORM. 

Oh,  my  offence  is  rank,  it  smells  to  heav'n  : 

It  hath  the  primal  eldest  curse  upon  't !— Hamlet. 

A  DAY  had  passed.  Mr.  Byrd,  who  no  longer  had 
any  reason  to  doubt  that  he  was  upon  the  trail  of 
the  real  assailant  of  the  Widow  Clemmens,  had  resolved 
upon  a  third  visit  to  the  woods,  this  time  with  the 
definite  object  of  picking  up  any  clew,  however  trifling, 
in  support  of  the  fact  that  Craik  Mansell  had  passed 
through  the  glade  behind  his  aunt's  house. 

The  sky,  when  he  left  the  hotel,  was  one  vast  field  of 
blue  ;  but  by  the  time  he  reached  the  terminus  of  the 
car-route,  and  stepped  out  upon  the  road  leading  to  the 
woods,  dark  clouds  had  overcast  the  sun,  and  a  cool 
wind  replaced  the  quiet  zephyrs  which  had  all  day 
fanned  the  brilliant  autumn  foliage. 

He  did  not  realize  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere, 
however,  and  proceeded  on  his  way,  thinking  more  of  the 
person  he  had  just  perceived  issuing  from  the  door-way  of 
Professor  Darling's  lofty  mansion,  than  of  the  low  raut- 
terings  of  distant  thunder  that  now  and  then  disturbed 
the  silence  of  the  woods,  or  of  the  ominous,  brazen  tint 
which  was  slowly  settling  over  the  huge  bank  of  cloud 


206  HAND   AND   RING. 

that  filled  the  northern  sky.  For  that  person  was  Miss 
Dare,  and  her  presence  here,  or  anywhere  near  him,  at 
this  time,  must  of  necessity,  awaken  a  most  painful  train 
of  thought. 

But,  though  unmindful  of  the  storm,  he  was  dimly 
conscious  of  the  darkness  that  was  settling  about  him. 
Quicker  and  quicker  grew  his  pace,  and  at  last  he  almost 
broke  into  a  run  as  the  heavy  pall  of  a  large  black  cloud 
swept  up  over  the  zenith,  and  wiped  from  the  heavens 
the  last  remnant  of  blue  sky.  One  drop  fell,  then  an- 
other, then  a  slow,  heavy  patter,  that  bent  double  the 
leaves  they  fell  upon,  as  if  a  shower  of  lead  had 
descended  upon  the  heavily  writhing  forest.  The  wind 
had  risen,  too,  and  the  vast  aisles  of  that  clear  and 
beautiful  wood  thundered  with  the  swaying  of  boughs, 
and  the  crash  here  and  there  of  an  old  and  falling  limb. 
But  the  lightning  delayed. 

The  blindest  or  most  abstracted  man  could  be  ignorant 
no  longer  of  what  all  this  turmoil  meant.  Stopping  in 
the  path  along  which  he  had  been  speeding,  Mr.  Byrd 
glanced  before  him  and  behind,  in  a  momentary  calcu- 
lation of  distances,  and  deciding  he  could  not  regain  the 
terminus  before  the  storm  burst,  pushed  on  toward  the 
hut. 

He  reached  it  just  as  the  first  flash  of  lightning  darted 
down  through  the  heavy  darkness,  and  was  about  to 
fling  himself  against  the  door,  when  something — was  it 
the  touch   of  an   invisible   hand,  or  the  crash  of  awful 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  20/ 

thunder  which  at  this  instant  plowed  up  the  silence  of 
the  forest  and  woke  a  pandemonium  of  echoes  about  his 
head  ? — stopped  him. 

He  never  knew.  He  only  realized  that  he  shuddered 
and  drew  back,  with  a  feeling  of  great  disinclination  to 
enter  the  low  building  before  him,  alone  ;  and  that  pres- 
ently taking  advantage  of  another  loud  crash  of  falling 
boughs,  he  crept  around  the  corner  of  the  hut,  and  satis- 
fied his  doubts  by  looking  into  the  small,  square  window- 
opening  to  the  west. 

He  found  there  was  ample  reason  for  all  the  hesitation 
he  had  felt.  A  man  was  sitting  there,  who,  at  the  first 
glimpse,  appeared  to  him  to  be  none  other  than  Craik 
Mansell.  But  reason  soon  assured  him  this  could  not  be, 
though  the  shape,  the  attitude — that  old  attitude  of 
despair  which  he  remembered  so  well — was  so  startlingly 
like  that  of  the  man  whose  name  was  uppermost  in  his 
thoughts,  that  he  recoiled  in  spite  of  himself. 

A  second  flash  swept  blinding  through  the  wood.  Mr. 
Byrd  advanced  his  head  and  took  another  glance  at  the 
stranger.  It  was  Mr.  Mansell.  No  other  man  would  sit 
so  quiet  and  unmoved  during  the  rush  and  clatter  of  a 
terrible  storm. 

Look  !  not  a  hair  of  his  head  has  stirred,  not  a  move- 
ment has  taken  place  in  the  hands  clasped  so  convuls- 
ively beneath  his  brow.  He  is  an  image,  a  stone,  and 
would  not  hear  though  the  roof  fell  in. 

Mr.  Byrd  himself  forgot  the  storm,  and  only  queried 


208  HAND   AND   RING. 

what  his  duty  was  in  this  strange  and  surprising  emer- 
gency. 

But  before  he  could  come  to  any  definite  conckision, 
he  was  subjected  to  a  new  sensation,  A  stir  that  was  not 
the  result  of  the  wind  or  the  rain  had  taken  place  in  the 
forest  before  him.  A  something — he  could  not  tell  what 
— was  advancing  upon  him  from  the  path  he  had  himself 
travelled  so  short  a  time  before,  and  its  step,  if  step  it 
were,  shook  him  with  a  vague  apprehension  that  made 
him  dread  to  lift  his  eyes.  But  he  conquered  the  un- 
manly instinct,  and  merely  taking  the  precaution  to  step 
somewhat  further  back  from  view,  looked  in  the  direction 
of  his  fears,  and  saw  a  tall,  firmly-built  woman,  whose 
grandly  poised  head,  held  high,  in  defiance  of  the  gale, 
the  lightning,  and  the  rain,  proclaimed  her  to  be  none 
other  than  Imogene  Dare. 

It  was  a  juxtaposition  of  mental,  moral,  and  physical 
forces  that  almost  took  Mr.  Byrd's  breath  away.  He  had 
no  doubt  whom  she  had  come  to  see,  or  to  what  sort  of  a 
tryst  he  was  about  to  be  made  an  unwilling  witness.  But 
he  could  not  have  moved  if  the  blast  then  surging  through 
the  trees  had  uprooted  the  huge  pine  behind  which  he 
had  involuntarily  drawn  at  the  first  impression  he  had 
received  of  her  approach.  He  must  watch  that  white 
face  of  hers  slowly  evolve  itself  from  the  surrounding 
darkness,  and  he  must  be  present  when  the  dreadful  bolt 
swept  down  from  heaven,  if  only  to  see  her  eyes  in  the 
flare  of  its  ghostly  fiame. 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  209 

It  came  while  she  was  crossing  the  glade.  Fierce, 
blinding,  more  vivid  and  searching  than  at  any  time 
before,  it  flashed  down  through  the  cringing  boughs,  and, 
like  a  mantle  of  fire,  enveloped  her  form,  throwing  out 
its  every  outline,  and  making  of  the  strong  and  beautiful 
face  an  electric  vision  which  Mr.  Byrd  was  never  able  to 
forget. 

A  sudden  swoop  of  wind  followed,  flinging  her  almost 
to  the  ground,  but  Mr.  Byrd  knew  from  that  moment  that 
neither  wind  nor  lightning,  not  even  the  fear  of  death, 
would  stop  this  woman  if  once  she  was  determined  upon 
any  course. 

Dreading  the  next  few  moments  inexpressibly,  yet 
forcing  himself,  as  a  detective,  to  remain  at  his  post, 
though  every  instinct  of  his  nature  rebelled,  Mr,  Byrd 
drew  himself  up  against  the  side  of  the  low  hut  and 
listened.  Her  voice,  rising  between  the  mutterings  of 
thunder  and  the  roar  of  the  ceaseless  gale,  was  plainly  to 
be  heard. 

"  Craik  Mansell,"  said  she,  in  a  strained  tone,  that  was 
not  without  its  severity,  "  you  sent  for  me,  and  I  am 
here." 

Ah,  this  was  her  mode  of  greeting,  was  it  ?  Mr.  Byrd 
felt  his  breath  come  easier,  and  listened  for  the  reply 
with  intensest  interest. 

But  it  did  not  come.  The  low  rumbling  of  the  thunder 
went  on,  and  the  wind  howled  through  the  gruesome 
forest,  but  the  man  she  had  addressed  did  not  speak. 


210  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Craik  !  "  Her  voice  still  came  from  the  door-way, 
where  she  had  seemingly  taken  her  stand,  "  Do  you  not 
hear  me  ?  " 

A  stifled  groan  was  the  sole  reply. 

She  appeared  to  take  one  step  forward,  but  no  more. 

"I  can  understand,"  said  she,  and  Mr.  Byrd  had  no 
difficulty  in  hearing  her  words,  though  the  turmoil  over- 
head was  almost  deafenirg,  "why  the  restlessness  of 
despair  should  drive  you  into  seeking  this  interview.  I 
have  longed  to  see  you  too,  if  only  to  tell  you  that  I  wish 
heaven's  thunderbolts  had  fallen  upon  us  both  on  that 
day  when  we  sat  and  talked  of  our  future  prospects 
and " 

A  lurid  flash  cut  short  her  words.  Strange  and  awe- 
some sounds  awoke  in  the  air  above,  and  the  next  moment 
a  great  branch  fell  crashing  down  upon  the  roof  of  the 
hut,  beating  in  one  corner,  and  sliding  thence  heavily  to 
the  ground,  where  it  lay  with  all  its  quivering  leaves 
uppermost,  not  two  feet  from  the  door-way  where  this 
woman  stood. 

A  shriek  like  that  of  a  lost  spirit  went  up  from  her 
lips. 

"  I  thought  the  vengeance  of  heaven  had  fallen  !  "  she 
gasped.  And  for  a  moment  not  a  sound  was  heard  within 
or  without  the  hut,  save  that  low  flutter  of  the  disturbed 
leaves.  "  It  is  not  to  be,"  she  then  whispered,  with  a 
return  of  her  old  calmness,  that  was  worse  than  any 
shriek.     "Murder  is  not  to  be  avenged  thus."     Then, 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  211 

shortly  :  "  A  dark  and  hideous  line  of  blood  is  drawn 
between  you  and  me,  Craik  Mansell.  /  cannot  pass  it, 
and  you  must  not,  forever  and  forever  and  forever.  But 
that  does  not  hinder  me  from  wishing  to  help  you,  and  so 
I  ask,  in  all  sincerity,  What  is  it  you  want  me  to  do  for 
you  to-day  ?" 

A  response  came  this  time. 

"  Show  me  how  to  escape  the  consequences  of  my 
act,"  were  his  words,  uttered  in  a  low  and  muffled  voice. 

She  did  not  answer  at  once. 

"  Are  you  threatened  ?  "  she  inquired  at  last,  in  a  tone 
that  proved  she  had  drawn  one  step  nearer  to  the  bowed 
form  and  hidden  face  of  the  person  she  addressed. 

"  My  conscience  threatens  me,"  was  the  almost  stifled 
reply. 

Again  that  heavy  silence,  all  the  more  impressive  that 
the  moments  before  had  been  so  prolific  of  heaven's  most 
terrible  noises. 

"  You  suffer  because  another  man  is  forced  to  endure 
suspicion  for  a  crime  he  never  committed,"  she  whisper- 
ingly  exclaimed. 

Only  a  groan  answered  her  ;  and  the  moments  grew 
heavier  and  heavier,  more  and  more  oppressive,  though 
the  hitherto  accompanying  outcries  of  the  forest  had 
ceased,  and  a  faint  lightening  of  the  heavy  darkness  was 
taking  place  overhead.  Mr.  Byrd  felt  the  pressure  of  the 
situation  so  powerfully,  he  drew  near  to  the  window  he 
had  hitherto  avoided,  and  looked  in.    She  was  standing  a 


212  HAND   AND    RING. 

foot  behind  the  crouched  figure  of  the  man,  between 
whom  and  herself  she  had  avowed  a  line  of  blood  to  be 
drawn.     As  he  looked  she  spoke. 

"  Craik,"  said  she,  and  the  deathless  yearning  of  love 
spoke  in  her  voice  at  last,  "  there  is  but  one  thing  to  do. 
Expiate  your  guilt  by  acknowledging  it.  Save  the  inno- 
cent from  unmerited  suspicion,  and  trust  to  the  mercy 
of  God.     It  is  the  only  advice  I  can  give  you.     I  know 

no  other  road  to  peace.     If  I  did "     She  stopped, 

choked  by  the  terror  of  her  own  thoughts.  "  Craik,"  she 
murmured,  at  last,  "  on  the  day  I  hear  of  your  having 
made  this  confession,  I  vow  to  take  an  oath  of  celibacy 
for  life.  It  is  the  only  recompense  I  can  offer  for  the 
misery  and  sin  into  which  our  mutual  mad  ambitions  have 
plunged  you." 

And  subduing  with  a  look  of  inexpressible  anguish  an 
evident  longing  to  lay  her  hand  in  final  caress  upon  that 
bended  head,  she  gave  him  one  parting  look,  and  then, 
with  a  quick  shudder,  hurried  away,  and  buried  herself 
amid  the  darkness  of  the  wet  and  shivering  woods. 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  213 


XVII. 

A    SURPRISE. 
Season  your  admiration  for  awhile. — Hamlet. 

WHEN  all  was  still  again,  Mr.  Byrd  advanced  from 
his  place  of  concealment,  and  softly  entered 
the  hut.  Its  solitary  occupant  sat  as  before,  with  his 
head  bent  down  upon  his  clasped  hands.  But  at  the  first 
sound  of  Mr.  Byrd's  approach  he  rose  and  turned.  The 
shock  of  the  discovery  which  followed  sent  the  detective 
reeling  back  against  the  door.  The  person  who  faced 
him  with  such  quiet  assurance  was  not  Craik  Mansell. 


214  HAND   AND   RING. 


XVIII. 

A    BRACE    OF    DETECTIVES. 

Httth  this  fellow  no  feeling  of  hisbusiness  ?— Hamlbt. 

No  action,  whether  foul  or  fair, 

Is  ever  done,  but  it  leaves  somewhere 

A  record.  -Longfellow. 

«<  ^^  O  there  are  two  of  us  !     I  thought  as  much  when 

v3^     I  first  set  eyes  upon  your  face  in  Buffalo  !  " 

This  exclamation,  uttered  in  a  dry  and  musing  tone, 
woke  Mr.  Byrd  from  the  stupor  into  which  this  astonish- 
ing discovery  had  thrown  him.  Advancing  upon  the 
stranger,  who  in  size,  shape,  and  coloring  was  almost  the 
facsimile  of  the  person  he  had  so  successfully  represented, 
Mr.  Byrd  looked  him  scrutinizingly  over. 

The  man  bore  the  ordeal  with  equanimity  ;  he  even 
smiled. 

"  You  don't  recognize  me,  I  see." 

Mr.  Byrd  at  once  recoiled. 

"Ah!"  cried  he,  "you  are  that  Jack-in-the-box, 
Brown  !  " 

^^  Alias  Frank  Hickory,  at  your  service." 

This  name,  so  unexpected,  called  up  a  flush  of  mingled 
surprise  and  indignation  to  Mr.  Byrd's  cheek. 

"  I  thought "  he  began 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A  WEB.  21 5 

"  Don't  think,"  interrupted  the  other,  who,  when 
excited,  affected  laconicism,  "know."  Then,  with  affa- 
bility, proceeded,  "  You  are  the  gentleman "  he  paid 

that  much  deference  to  Mr.  Byrd's  air  and  manner,  "  who 
I  was  told  might  lend  me  a  helping  hand  in  this  Clem- 
mens  affair.  I  did  n't  recognize  you  before,  sir.  Would  n't 
have  stood  in  your  way  if  I  had.  Though,  to  be  sure, 
I  did  want  to  see  this  matter  through  myself.  I  thought 
I  had  the  right.  And  I  've  done  it,  too,  as  you  must 
acknowledge,  if  you  have  been  present  in  this  terrible 
place  very  long." 

This  self-satisfied,  if  not  boastful,  allusion  to  a  scene  in 
which  this  strange  being  had  played  so  unworthy,  if  not 
unjustifiable,  a  part,  sent  a  thrill  of  revulsion  through  Mr. 
Byrd.  Drawing  hastily  back  with  an  instinct  of  dislike 
he  could  not  conceal,  he  cast  a  glance  through  the  thicket 
of  trees  that  spread  beyond  the  open  door,  and  pointedly 
asked  : 

"  Was  there  no  way  of  satisfying  yourself  of  the  guilt  of 
Craik  Mansell,  except  by  enacting  a  farce  that  may  lead 
to  the  life-long  remorse  of  the  woman  out  of  whose  love 
you  have  made  a  trap  ?  " 

A  slow  flush,  the  first,  possibly,  that  had  visited  the 
hardy  cheek  of  this  thick-skinned  detective  for  years, 
crept  over  the  face  of  Frank  Hickory. 

"I  don't  mean  she  shall  ever  know,"  he  sullenly  pro- 
tested, kicking  at  the  block  upon  which  he  had  been  sit- 
ting.    "  But  it  was  a  mean   trick,"   he  frankly   enough 


2l6  HAND   AND   RING. 

admitted  the  next  moment.  "  If  I  had  n't  been  the 
tough  old  hickory  knot  that  I  am,  I  could  n't  have  done 
it,  I  suppose.     The  storm,  too,  made  it  seem  a  bit  trifling. 

But Well,  well  ! "    he  suddenly   interjected,   in   a 

more  cheerful  tone,  "'tis  too  late  now  for  tears  and 
repentance.  The  thing  is  done,  and  can't  be  undone. 
And,  at  all  events,  I  reckon  we  are  both  satisfied  now  as 
to  who  killed  Widow  Clemmens  !  " 

Mr.  Byrd  could  not  resist  a  slight  sarcasm.  "  I  thought 
you  were  satisfied  in  that  regard  before  ?  "  said  he.  "  At 
least,  I  understood  that  at  a  certain  time  you  were  very 
positive  it  was  Mr.  Hildreth." 

"  So  I  was,"  the  fellow  good-naturedly  allowed  ;  "  so  I 
was.  The  byways  of  a  crime  like  this  are  dreadful  dark 
and  uncertain.  It  is  n't  strange  that  a  fellow  gets  lost 
sometimes.  But  I  got  a  jog  on  my  elbow  that  sent  me 
into  the  right  path,"  said  he,  "as,  perhaps,  you  did  too, 
sir,  eh  ?" 

Not  replying  to  this  latter  insinuation,  Mr.  Byrd 
quietly  repeated  : 

"  You  got  a  jog  on  your  elbow  ?    When,  may  I  ask  ?  " 

"  Three  days  3igo,just.'"  was  the  emphatic  reply- 

"  And  from  whom  ?  " 

Instead  of  replying,  the  man  leaned  back  against  the 
wall  of  the  hut  and  looked  at  his  interlocutor  in  silence. 

"  Are  we  going  to  join  hands  over  this  business  ? "  he 
cried,  at  last,  "or  are  you  thinking  of  pushing  your  way 
on  alone  after  you  have  got  from  me  all  that  I  know  ?" 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  .217 

The  question  took  Mr.  Byrd  by  surprise. 

He  had  not  thought  of  the  future.  He  was  as  yet  too 
much  disturbed  by  his  memories  of  the  past.  To  hide 
his  discomfiture,  he  began  to  pace  the  floor,  an  opera- 
tion which  his  thoroughly  wet  condition  certainly  made 
advisable. 

''  I  have  no  wish  to  rob  you  of  any  glory  you  may  hope 
to  reap  from  the  success  of  the  plot  you  have  carried  on 
here  to-day,"  he  presently  declared,  with  some  bitter- 
ness ;  "  but  if  this  Craik  Mansell  is  guilty,  I  suppose  it 
is  my  duty  to  help  you  in  the  collection  of  all  suitable 
and  proper  evidence  against  him." 

"  Then,"  said  the  other,  who  had  been  watching  him 
with  rather  an  anxious  eye,  "let  us  to  work."  And,  sit- 
ting down  on  the  table,  he  motioned  to  Mr.  Byrd  to  take 
a  seat  upon  the  block  at  his  side. 

But  the  latter  kept  up  his  walk. 

Hickory  surveyed  him  for  a  moment  in  silence,  then  he 
said  : 

"  You  must  have  something  against  this  young  man,  or 
you  would  n't  be  here.  What  is  it  ?  What  first  set  you 
thinking  about  Craik  Mansell  ?  " 

Now,  this  was  a  question  Mr.  Byrd  could  not  and 
would  not  answer.  After  what  had  just  passed  in  the 
hut,  he  felt  it  impossible  to  mention  to  this  man  the  name 
of  Imogene  Dare  in  connection  with  that  of  the  nephew 
of  Mrs.  Clemmens.  He  therefore  waived  the  other's 
interrogation  and  remarked  : 


2l8  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  My  knowledge  was  rather  the  fruit  of  surmise  than 
fact.  I  did  not  believe  in  the  guilt  of  Gouverneur  Hil- 
dreth,  and  so  was  forced  to  look  about  me  for  some  one 
whom  I  could  conscientiously  suspect.  I  fixed  upon  this 
unhappy  man  in  Buffalo  ;  how  truly,  your  own  suspicions, 
unfortunately,  reveal." 

"  And  I  had  to  have  my  wits  started  by  a  horrid  old 
woman,"  murmured  the  evidently  abashed  Hickory. 

"  Horrid  old  woman  !  "  repeated  Mr.  Byrd.  "  Not 
Sally  Perkins  ?  " 

"Yes.     A  sweet  one,  is  n't  she  ?" 
Mr.  Byrd  shuddered. 

"Tell  me  about  it,"  said  he,  coming  and  sitting  down 
in  the  seat  the  other  had  previously  indicated  to  him. 

"  I  will,  sir  ;  I  will  :  but  first  let 's  look  at  the  weather. 
Some  folks  would  think  it  just  as  well  for  you  to  change 
that  toggery  of  yours.  What  do  you  say  to  going  home 
first,  and  talking  afterward  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  it  would  be  wise,"  admitted  Mr.  Byrd, 
looking  down  at  his  garments,  whose  decidedly  damp 
condition  he  had  scarcely  noticed  in  his  excitement. 
"And  yet  I  hate  to  leave  this  spot  till  I  learn  how  you 
came  to  choose  it  as  the  scene  of  the  tragi-comedy  you 
have  enacted  here  to-day,  and  what  position  it  is  likely 
to  occupy  in  the  testimony  which  you  have  collected 
against  this  young  man." 

"Wait,  then,"  said  the  bustling  fellow,  "till  I  build  you 
the  least  bit  of  a  fire  to  warm  you.     It  won't  take  but  a 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  2I9 

minute,"  he  averred,  piling  together  some  old  sticks  that 
cumbered  the  hearth,  and  straightway  setting  a  match  to 
them.  "  See  !  is  n't  that  pleasant  ?  And  now,  just  cast 
your  eye  at  this  !  "  he  continued,  drawing  a  comfortable- 
looking  flask  out  of  his  pocket  and  handing  it  over  to 
the  other  with  a  dry  laugh.  "  Is  n't  f/ii's  pleasant  ?  "  And 
he  threw  himself  down  on  the  floor  and  stretched  out  his 
liands  to  the  blaze,  with  a  gusto  which  the  dreary  hour 
he  had  undoubtedly  passed  made  perfectly  natural,  if  not 
excusable, 

"  I  thank  you,"  said  Mr.  Byrd  ;  "  I  did  n't  know  I  was 
so  chilled,"  and  he,  too,  enjoyed  the  warmth.  "And, 
now,"  he  pursued,  after  a  moment,  "go  on  ;  let  us  have 
the  thing  out  at  once." 

But  the  other  was  in  no  hurry.  "Very  good,  sir,"  he 
cried  ;  "but,  first,  if  you  don't  mind,  suppose  you  tell  me 
what  brought  j^w  to  this  hut  to-day  ?" 

"  I  was  on  the  look-out  for  clues.  In  my  study  of  the 
situation,  I  decided  that  the  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemmens 
escaped,  not  from  the  front,  but  from  the  back,  of  the 
house.  Taking  the  path  I  imagined  him  to  have  trod,  I 
came  upon  this  hut.  It  naturally  attracted  my  attention, 
and  to-day  I  came  back  to  examine  it  more  closely  in  the 
hope  of  picking  up  some  signs  of  his  having  been  here, 
or  at  least  of  having  passed  through  the  glade  on  his 
way  to  the  deeper  woods." 

"And  what,  if  you  had  succeeded  in  this,  sir?  What, 
if  some  token  of  his  presence  had  rewarded  your  search  ?  " 


220  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  I  should  have  completed  a  chain  of  proof  of  which 
only  this  one  link  is  lacking,  I  could  have  shown  how 
Craik  Mansell  fled  from  this  place  on  last  Tuesday  after- 
noon, making  his  way  through  the  woods  to  the  highway, 
and  thence  to  the  Quarry  Station  at  Monteith,  where  he 
took  the  train  which  carried  him  back  to  Buffalo." 

"  You  could  ! — show  me  how  ? " 

Mr.  Byrd  explained  himself  more  definitely. 

Hickory  at  once  rose. 

*'  I  guess  we  can  give  you  the  link,"  he  dryly  remarked. 
"At  all  events,  suppose  you  just  step  here  and  tell  me 
what  conclusion  you  draw  from  the  appearance  of  this 
pile  of  brush." 

Mr.  Byrd  advanced  and  looked  at  a  small  heap  of 
hemlock  that  lay  in  a  compact  mass  in  one  corner. 

*' I  have  not  disturbed  it,"  pursued  the  other.  "It  is 
just  as  it  was  when  I  found  it." 

"  Looks  like  a  pillow,"  declared  Mr.  Byrd.  "  Has 
been  used  for  such,  I  am  sure  ;  for  see,  the  dust  in  this 
portion  of  the  floor  lies  lighter  than  elsewhere.  You  can 
almost  detect  the  outline  of  a  man's  recumbent  form,"  he 
went  on,  slowly,  leaning  down  to  examine  the  floor  more 
closely.     "  As  for  the  boughs,  they  have  been  cut  from 

the  tree  with  a  knife,  and "     Lifting  up  a  sprig,  he 

looked  at  it,  then  passed  it  over  to  Hickory,  with  a 
meaning  glance  that  directed  attention  to  one  or  two 
short  hairs  of  a  dark  brown  color,  that  were  caught  in 
the  rough  bark.     "  He  did  not  even  throw  his  pocket- 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  221 

handkerchief  over  the  heap  before  lying  down,"  he 
observed. 

Mr,  Hickory  smiled.  "  You  're  up  in  your  business,  I 
see."  And  drawing  his  new  colleague  to  the  table,  he 
asked  him  what  he  saw  there. 

At  first  sight  Mr.  Byrd  exclaimed  :  "  Nothing,"  but  in 
another  moment  he  picked  up  an  infinitesmal  chip  from 
between  the  rough  logs  that  formed  the  top  of  this  some- 
what rustic  piece  of  furniture,  and  turning  it  over  in  his 
hand,  pronounced  it  to  be  a  piece  of  wood  from  a  lead- 
pencil. 

"  Here  are  several  of  them,"  remarked  Mr.  Hickory, 
"  and  what  is  more,  it  is  easy  to  tell  just  the  color 
of  the  pencil  from  which  they  were  cut.     It  was  blue." 

"  That  is  so,"  assented  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  Quarry-men,  charcoal-burners,  and  the  like  are  not 

much   in   the   habit   of    sharpening   pencils,"   suggested 

Hickory. 

"  Is  the  pencil  now  to  be  found  in  the  pocket  of  Mr. 
» 
Mansell  a  blue  one  ?  " 

"  It  is." 

"  Have  you  any  thing  more  to  show  me  ?  "  asked  Mr. 
Byrd. 

"  Only  this,"  responded  the  other,  taking  out  of  his 
pocket  the  torn-off  corner  of  a  newspaper.  "  I  found 
this  blowing  about  under  the  bushes  out  there,"  said  he. 
*'  Look  at  it  and  tell  me  from  what  paper  it  was  torn." 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Mr.  Byrd  ;  "  none  that  I  am 
acquainted  with." 


222  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  You  don't  read  the  Buffalo  Courier  7^* 

"  Oh,  is  this " 

"A  corner  from  the  Buffalo  Courier?  I  don't  know, 
but  I  mean  to  find  out.  If  it  is,  and  the  date  proves  to 
be  correct,  we  won't  have  much  trouble  about  the  little 
link,  will  we  ?  " 

Mr.  Byrd  shook  his  head  and  they  again  crouched 
down  over  the  fire. 

"  And,  now,  what  did  you  learn  in  Buffalo  ?  "  inquired 
the  persistent  Hickory. 

"  Not  much,"  acknowledged  Mr.  Byrd.  "  The  man 
Brown  was  entirely  too  ubiquitous  to  give  me  my  full 
chance.  Neither  at  the  house  nor  at  the  mill  was  I  able 
to  glean  any  thing  beyond  an  admission  from  the  land- 
lady that  Mr.  Mansell  was  not  at  home  at  the  time  of  his 
aunt's  murder.  I  could  n't  even  learn  where  he  was  on 
that  day,  or  where  he  had  ostensibly  gone  ?  If  it  had 
not  been  for  the  little  girl  of  Mr.  Goodman " 

"  Ah,  I  had  not  time  to  go  to  that  house,"  interjected 
the  other,  suggestively. 

"  I  should  have  come  home  as  wise  as  I  went,"  con- 
tinued Mr.  Byrd.  "  She  told  me  that  on  the  day  before 
Mr.  Mansell  returned,  he  wrote  to  her  father  from  Mon- 
teith,  and  that  settled  my  mind  in  regard  to  him.  It  was 
pure  luck,  however." 

The  other  laughed  long  and  loud. 

"  I  did  n't  know  I  did  it  up  so  well,"  he  cried.  "  I 
told  the  landlady  you  were  a  detective,  or  acted  like  one. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  223 

and  she  was  very  ready  to  take  the  alarm,  having,  as  I 
judge,  a  motherly  liking  for  her  young  boarder.  Then  I 
took  Messrs.  Chamberlin  and  Harrison  into  my  confi- 
dence, and  having  got  from  them  all  the  information 
they  could  give  me,  told  them  there  was  evidently 
another  man  on  the  track  ot  this  Mansell,  and  warned 
them  to  keep  silence  till  they  heard  from  the  prosecuting 
attorney  in  Sibley.  But  I  did  n't  know  who  you  were,  or, 
at  least,  I  was  n't  sure  ;  or,  as  I  said  before,  I  should  n't 
have  presumed." 

The  short,  dry  laugh  with  which  he  ended  this  expla- 
nation had  not  ceased,  when  Mr.  Byrd  observed  : 

"  You  have  not  told  me  what  you  gathered  in  Buffalo." 
"  Much,"  quoth  Hickory,  reverting  to  his  favorite 
laconic  mode  of  speech.  "  First,  that  Mansell  went 
from  home  on  Monday,  the  day  before  the  murder,  for 
the  purpose,  as  he  said,  of  seeing  a  man  in  New  York 
about  his  wonderful  invention.  Secondly,  that  he  never 
went  to  New  York,  but  came  back  the  next  evening, 
bringing  his  model  with  him,  and  looking  terribly  used 
up  and  worried.  Thirdly,  that  to  get  this  invention 
before  the  public  had  been  his  pet  aim  and  effort  for  a 
whole  year.  That  he  believed  in  it  as  you  do  in  your 
Bible,  and  would  have  given  his  heart's  blood,  if  it  would 
have  done  any  good,  to  start  the  thing,  and  prove  him- 
self right  in  his  estimate  of  its  value.  That  the  money  to 
do  this  was  all  that  was  lacking,  no  one  believing  in  him 
sufficiently  to  advance  him  the  five  thousand  dollars  con- 


224  HAND   AND   RING. 

sidered  necessary  to  build  the  machine  and  get  it  in  work- 
ing order.  That,  in  short,  he  was  a  fanatic  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  often  said  he  would  be  willing  to  die  within  the 
year  if  he  could  first  prove  to  the  unbelieving  capitalists 
whom  he  had  vainly  importuned  for  assistance,  the  worth 
of  the  discovery  he  believed  himself  to  have  made. 
Fourthly — but  what  is  it  you  wish  to  say,  sir  ?  " 

Five  thousand  dollars  is  just  the  amount  Widow  Clem- 
mens  is  supposed  to  leave  him,"  remarked  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  Precisely,"  was  the  short  reply. 

*'  And  fourthly  ?  "  suggested  the  former. 

"  Fourthly,  he  was  in  the  mill  on  Wednesday  morning, 
where  he  went  about  his  work  as  usual,  until  some  one 
who  knew  his  relation  to  Mrs.  Clemmens  looked  up  from  the 
paper  he  was  reading,  and,  in  pure  thoughtlessness,  cried, 
"  So  they  have  killed  your  aunt  for  you,  have  they  ?  "  A 
barbarous  jest,  that  caused  everybody  near  him  to  start  in 
indignation,  but  which  made  him  recoil  as  if  one  of  these 
thunderbolts  we  have  been  listening  to  this  afternoon  had 
fallen  at  his  feet.  And  he  did  n't  get  over  it,"  Hickory 
went  on.  "  He  had  to  beg  permission  to  go  home.  He 
said  the  terrible  news  had  made  him  ill,  and  indeed  he 
looked  sick  enough,  and  continued  to  look  sick  enough 
for  days.  He  had  letters  from  Sibley,  and  an  invitation 
to  attend  the  inquest  and  be  present  at  the  funeral 
services,  but  he  refused  to  go.  He  was  threatened  with 
diphtheria,  he  declared,  and  remained  away  from  the  mill 
until   the    day   before    yesterday.       Some   one,    I    don't 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  225 

remember  who,  says  he  went  out  of  town  the  very  Wed- 
nesday he  first  heard  the  news  ;  but  if  so,  he  could 
not  have  been  gone  long,  for  he  was  at  home  Wednesday 
night,  sick  in  bed,  and  threatened,  as  I  have  said,  with 
the  diphtheria.     Fifthly " 

"  Well,  fifthly  ?  " 

**  I  am  afraid  of  your  criticisms,"  laughed  the  rough 
detective.  "  Fifthly  is  the  result  of  my  poking  about 
among  Mr.  Mansell's  traps." 

"Ah  !  "  frowned  the  other,  with  a  vivid  remembrance 
of  that  picture  of  Miss  Dare,  with  its  beauty  blotted  out 
by  the  ominous  black  lines. 

"  You  are  too  squeamish  for  a  detective,"  the  other 
declared.  "  Guess  you  're  kept  for  the  fancy  business, 
eh?" 

The  look  Mr.  Byrd  gave  him  was  eloquent.  "  Go  on," 
said  he  ;  "  let  us  hear  what  lies  behind  your  fifthly." 

"  Love,"  returned  the  man.  "  Locked  in  the  drawer  of 
this  young  gentleman's  table,  I  found  some  half-dozen 
letters  tied  with  a  black  ribbon.  I  knew  they  were 
written  by  a  lady,  but  squeamishness  is  not  a  fault 
of  mine,  and  so  I  just  allowed  myself  to  glance  over  them. 
They  were  from  Miss  Dare,  of  course,  and  they  revealed 
the  fact  that  love,  as  well  as  ambition,  had  been  a  motive 
power  in  determining  this  Mansell  to  make  a  suc- 
cess out  of  his  invention." 

Leaning  back,  the  now  self-satisfied  detective  looked 
at  Mr.  Byrd. 


226  HAND    AND    KING. 

"  The  name  of  Miss  Dare,"  he  went  on,  "  brings  me  to 
the  point  from  which  we  started.  "  I  have  n't  yet  told 
you  what  old  Sally  Perkins  had  to  say  to  me." 

"  No,"  rejoined  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  Well,"  continued  the  other,  poking  with  his  foot  the 
dying  embers  of  the  fire,  till  it  started  up  into  a  fresh 
blaze,  "  the  case  against  this  young  fellow  would  n't  be 
worth  very  much  without  that  old  crone's  testimony, 
I  reckon  ;  but  with  it  I  guess  we  can  get  along." 

"Let  us  hear,"  said  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  The  old  woman  is  a  wretch,"  Hickory  suddenly 
broke  out.  "  She  seems  to  gloat  over  the  fact  that 
a  young  and  beautiful  woman  is  in  trouble.  She  actually 
trembled  with  eagerness  as  she  told  her  story.  If  I 
had  n't  been  rather  anxious  myself  to  hear  what  she  had 
to  say,  I  could  have  thrown  her  out  of  the  window. 
As  it  was,  I  let  her  go  on  ;  duty  before  pleasure,  you  see 
— duty  before  pleasure." 

"  But  her  story,"  persisted  Mr.  Byrd,  letting  some 
of  his  secret  irritation  betray  itself. 

"  Well,  her  story  was  this  :  Monday  afternoon,  the  day 
before  the  murder,  you  know,  she  was  up  in  these  very 
woods  hunting  for  witch-hazel.  She  had  got  her  arms 
full  and  was  going  home  across  the  bog  when  she  sudden- 
ly heard  voices.  Being  of  a  curious  disposition,  like  my- 
self, I  suppose,  she  stopped,  and  seeing  just  before  her 
a  young  gentleman  and  lady  sitting  on  an  old  stump, 
crouched   down  in   the   shadow  of  a  tree,  with  the  harm- 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  22/ 

less  intent,  no  doubt,  of  amusing  herself  with  their  con- 
versation. It  was  more  interesting  than  she  expected, 
and  she  really  became  quite  tragic  as  she  related  her 
story  to  me.  I  cannot  do  justice  to  it  myself,  and  I 
sha'n't  try.  It  is  enough  that  the  man  whom  she  did 
not  know,  and  the  woman  whom  she  immediately  recog- 
nized as  Miss  Dare,  were  both  in  a  state  of  great  indigna- 
tion. That  he  spoke  of  selfishness  and  obstancy  on 
the  part  of  his  aunt,  and  that  she,  in  the  place  of  rebuking 
him,  replied  in  a  way  to  increase  his  bitterness,  and  lead 
him  finally  to  exclaim  :  '  I  cannot  bear  it  !  To  think  that 
with  just  the  advance  of  the  very  sum  she  proposes  to 
give  me  some  day,  I  could  make  her  fortune  and  my  own, 
and  win  you  all  in  one  breath  !  It  is  enough  to  drive  a 
man  mad  to  see  all  that  he  craves  in  this  world  so  near 
his  grasp,  and  yet  have  nothing,  not  even  hope,  to  com- 
fort him.'  And  at  that,  it  seems,  they  both  rose,  and  she, 
who  had  not  answered  any  thing  to  this,  struck  the  tree 
before  which  they  stood,  with  her  bare  fist,  and  murmured 
a  word  or  so  which  the  old  woman  could  n't  catch,  but 
which  was  evidently  something  to  the  effect  that  she 
wished  she  knew  Mrs.  Clemmens  ;  for  Mansell — of 
course  it  was  he — said,  in  almost  the  same  breath,  *  And 
if  you  did  know  her,  what  then  ? '  A  question  which 
elicited  no  reply  at  first,  but  which  finally  led  her  to  say: 
'  Oh  !  I  think  that,  possibly,  I  might  be  able  to  persuade 
her.'  All  this,"  the  detective  went  on,  "  old  Sally  rela- 
ted with  the  greatest  force  ;  but   in  regard   to  what  fol- 


228  HAND   AND    RING. 

lowed,  she  was  not  so  clear.  Probably  they  interrupted 
their  conversation  with  some  lovers'  by-play,  for  they 
stood  very  near  together,  and  he  seemed  to  be  earnestly 
pleading  with  her.  *  Do  take  it,'  old  Sally  heard  him 
say.  '  I  shall  feel  as  if  life  held  some  outlook  for 
me,  if  you  only  will  gratify  me  in  this  respect.'  But 
she  answered  :  *  No  ;  it  is  of  no  use.  I  am  as 
ambitious  as  you  are,  and  fate  is  evidently  against 
us,'  and  put  his  hand  back  when  he  endeavored  to  take 
hers,  but  finally  yielded  so  far  as  to  give  it  to  him  for  a 
moment,  though  she  immediately  snatched  it  away  again, 
crying  :  'I  cannot  ;  you  must  wait  till  to-morrow.'  And 
when  he  asked  :  '  Why  to-morrow  ? '  she  answered  :  *  A 
night  has  been  known  to  change  the  whole  current  of  a 
person's  affairs.'  To  which  he  replied:  *  True,'  and 
looked  thoughtful,  very  thoughtful,  as  he  met  her  eyes 
and  saw  her  raise  that  white  hand  of  hers  and  strike  the 
tree  again  with  a  passionate  force  that  made  her  fingers 
bleed.  And  she  was  right,"  concluded  the  speaker. 
"  The  night,  or  if  not  the  night,  the  next  twenty-four 
hours,  did  make  a  change,  as  even  old  Sally  Perkins 
observed.  Widow  Clemmens  was  struck  down  and  Craik 
Mansell  became  the  possessor  of  the  five  thousand  dollars 
he  so  much  wanted  in  order  to  win  for  himself  a  fortune 
and  a  bride." 

Mr.  Byrd,  who  had  been  sitting  with  his  face  turned 
aside  during  this  long  recital,  slowly  rose  to  his  feet. 
"  Hickory,"  said  he,  and  his  tone  had  an  edge  of  sup- 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WELi.  229 

pressed  feeling  in  it  that  made  the  other  start,  "  don't 
let  me  ever  hear  you  say,  in  my  presence,  that  you  think 
this  young  and  beautiful  woman  was  the  one  to  suggest 
murder  to  this  man,  for  I  won't  hear  it.  And  now,"  he 
continued,  more  calmly,  "  tell  me  why  this  babbling  old 
wretch  did  not  enliven  the  inquest  with  her  wonderful 
tale.  It  would  have  been  a  fine  offset  to  the  testimony 
of  Miss  Firman." 

"  She  said  she  was  n't  fond  of  coroners  and  had  no 
wish  to  draw  the  attention  of  twelve  of  her  own  townsfolk 
upon  herself.  She  did  n't  mean  to  commit  herself  with 
me,"  pursued  Hickory,  rising  also.  "  She  was  going  to 
give  me  a  hint  of  the  real  stale  of  affairs  ;  or,  rather,  set 
me  working  in  the  right  direction,  as  this  little  note  which 
she  tucked  under  the  door  of  my  room  at  the  hotel  will 
show.  But  I  was  too  quick  for  her,  and  had  her  by  the 
arm  before  she  could  shuffle  down  the  stairs.  It  was 
partly  to  prove  her  story  was  true  and  not  a  romance 
made  up  for  the  occasion,  that  I  lured  this  woman  here 
this  afternoon." 

"  You  are  not  as  bad  a  fellow  as  I  thought,"  Mr.  Byrd 
admitted,  after  a  momentary  contemplation  of  the 
other's  face.  "  If  I  might  only  know  how  you  managed 
to  effect  this  interview." 

"  Nothing  easier.  I  found  in  looking  over  the  scraps 
of  paper  which  Mansell  had  thrown  into  the  waste-paper 
basket  in  Buffalo,  the  draft  of  a  note  which  he  had  writ- 
ten to  Miss  Dare,  under  an  impulse  which  he  afterward 


230  HAND   AND    RING. 

probably  regretted.  It  was  a  summons  to  their  usual 
place  of  tryst  at  or  near  this  hut,  and  though  unsigned, 
was  of  a  character,  as  I  thought,  to  effect  its  purpose.  I 
just  sent  it  to  her,  that  's  all." 

The  nonchalance  with  which  this  was  said  completed 
Mr.  Byrd's  astonishment. 

"  You  are  a  worthy  disciple  of  Gryce,"  he  asserted,  lead- 
ing the  way  to  the  door. 

"  Think  so  ?  "  exclaimed  the  man,  evidently  flattered 
at  what  h6  considered  a  great  compliment.  "  Then  shake 
hands,"  he  cried,  with  a  frank  appeal  Mr.  Byrd  found  it 
hard  to  resist.  "  Ah,  you  don't  want  to,"  he  somewhat 
ruefully  declared.  "  Will  it  change  your  feelings  any  if  I 
promise  to  ignore  what  happened  here  to-day — my  trick 
with  Miss  Dare  and  what  she  revealed  and  all  that  ?  If 
it  will,  I  swear  I  won't  even  think  of  it  any  more  if  I  can 
help  it.  At  all  events,  I  won't  tattle  about  it  even  to  the 
superintendent.  It  shall  be  a  secret  between  you  and  me, 
and  she  won't  know  but  what  it  was  her  lover  she  talked 
to,  after  all." 

"  You  are   willing  to   do  all  this  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Byrd. 

"Willing  and  ready,"  cried  the  man.  "I  believe  in 
duty  to  one's  superiors,  but  duty  does  n't  always  demand 
of  one  to  tell  every  thing  he  knows.  Besides,  it  won't  be 
necessary,  I  imagine.  There  is  enough  against  this  poor 
fellow  without  that." 

"  I  fear  so,"  ejaculated  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  Then  it  is  a  bargain  ?  "  said  Hickory. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  23 1 

"Yes." 

And  Mr.  Byrd  held  out  his  hand. 

The  rain  had  now  ceased  and  they  prepared  to  return 
home.  Before  leaving  the  glade,  however,  Mr.  Byrd  ran 
his  eye  over  the  other's  person  and  apparel,  and  in  some 
wonder  inquired  : 

"  How  do  you  fellows  ever  manage  to  get  up  such  com- 
plete disguises  ?  I  declare  you  look  enough  like  Mr. 
Mansell  in  the  back  to  make  me  doubt  even  now  who  I 
am  talking  to." 

"  Oh,"  laughed  the  other,  "  it  is  easy  enough.  It 's  my 
specialty,  you  see,  and  one  in  which  I  am  thought  to 
excel.  But,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  had  n't  much  to  contend 
with  in  this  case.  In  build  I  am  famously  like  this  man, 
as  you  must  have  noticed  when  you  saw  us  together  in 
Buffalo.  Indeed,  it  was  our  similarity  in  this  respect  that 
first  put  the  idea  of  personifying  him  into  my  head.  My 
complexion  had  been  darkened  already,  and,  as  for  such 
accessories  as  hair,  voice,  manner,  dress,  etc.,  a  five-min- 
utes' study  of  my  model  was  sufficient  to  prime  me  up  in 
all  that — enough,  at  least,  to  satisfy  the  conditions  of  an 
interview  which  did  not  require  me  to  show  my  face." 

"  But  you  did  not  know  when  you  came  here  that  you 
would  not  have  to  show  your  face,"  persisted  Mr.  Byrd, 
anxious  to  understand  how  this  man  dared  risk  his  repu- 
tation on  an  undertaking  of  this  kind. 

"  No,  and  I  did  not  know  that  the  biggest  thunderstorm 
of  the  season  was  going  to  spring  up  and  lend  me  its  dark- 


232  HAND    AND    RING. 

ness  to  complete  the  illusion  I  had  attempted.  I  only- 
trusted  my  good  fortune — and  my  wits,"  he  added,  with  a 
droll  demureness.  "  Both  had  served  me  before,  and 
both  were  likely  to  serve  me  again.  And,  say  she  had 
detected  me  in  my  little  game,  what  then  ?  Women  like 
her  don't  babble." 

There  was  no  reply  to  make  to  this,  and  Mr.  Byrd's 
thoughts  being  thus  carried  back  to  Imogene  Dare  and  the 
unhappy  revelations  she  had  been  led  to  make,  he  walked 
on  in  a  dreary  silence  his  companion  had  sufficient  dis- 
cretion not  to  break. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  233 


XIX. 

MR.    FERRIS. 

"WUch  of  you  have  done  this  ?— Macbeth. 
What  have  we  here  ? — Tempest. 

MR.  FERRIS  sat  in  his  office  in  a  somewhat 
gloomy  frame  of  mind.  There  had  been  bad 
news  from  the  jail  that  morning.  Mr.  Hildreth  had 
attempted  suicide  the  night  before,  and  was  now  lying  in 
a  critical  condition  at  the  hospital. 

Mr.  Ferris  himself  had  never  doubted  this  man's  guilt. 
From  Hildreth 's  first  appearance  at  the  inquest,  the 
District  Attorney  had  fixed  upon  him  as  the  murderer  of 
Mrs.  Clemmens,  and  up  to  this  time  he  had  seen  no  good 
and  substantial  reason  for  altering  his  opinion. 

Even  the  doubts  expressed  by  Mr,  Byrd  had  moved 
him  but  little.  Mr.  Byrd  was  an  enthusiast,  and,  naturally 
enough,  shrank  from  believing  a  gentleman  capable  of 
such  a  crime.  But  the  other  detective's  judgment  was  un- 
swayed, and  he  considered  Hildreth  guilty.  It  was  not 
astonishing,  then,  that  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Ferris  should 
coincide  with  that  of  the  older  and  more  experienced 
man. 

But  the  depth  of  despair  or  remorse  which  had  led  Mr. 
Hildreth  to  this  desperate  attempt  upon  his  own  life  had 


234  HAND   AND    RING. 

Struck  the  District  Attorney  with  dismay.  Though  not 
over-sensitive  by  nature,  he  could  not  help  feeling  sym- 
pathy for  the-misery  that  had  prompted  such  a  deed,  and 
while  secretly  regarding  this  unsuccessful  attempt  at 
suicide  as  an  additional  proof  of  guilt,  he  could  not  for- 
bear satisfying  himself  by  a  review  of  the  evidence  elicit- 
ed at  the  inquest,  that  the  action  of  the  authorities  in 
arresting  this  man  had  been  both  warrantable  and  neces- 
sary. 

The  result  was  satisfactory  in  all  but  one  point.  When 
he  came  to  the  widow's  written  accusation  against  one  by 
the  name  of  Gouverneur  Hildreth,  he  was  impressed  by  a 
fact  that  had  hitherto  escaped  his  notice.  This  was  the 
yellowness  of  the  paper  upon  which  the  words  were 
written.  If  they  had  been  transcribed  a  dozen  years  be- 
fore, they  would  not  have  looked  older,  nor  would  the 
ink  have  presented  a  more  faded  appearance.  Now,  as 
the  suspected  man  was  under  twenty-five  years  of  age, 
and  must,  therefore,  have  been  a  mere  child  when  the 
paper  was  drawn  up,  the  probability  was  that  the  Gouver- 
neur intended  was  the  prisoner's  father,  their  names  being 
identical. 

But  this  discovery,  while  it  robbed  the  affair  of  its  most 
dramatic  feature,  could  not  affect  in  any  serious  way  the 
extreme  significance  of  the  remaining  real  and  compro- 
mising facts  which  told  so  heavily  against  this  unfortunate 
man.  Indeed,  the  well-known  baseness  of  the  father 
made  it  easier  to  distrust  the  son,  and  Mr.   Ferris  had 


THE   \\'EAVING   OF   A   WEB.  235 

just  come  to  the  conclusion  that  his  duty  compelled  him 
to  draw  up  an  indictment  of  the  would-be  suicide,  when 
the  door  opened,  and  Mr.  Byrd  and  Mr.  Hickory  came  in. 

To  see  these  two  men  in  conjunction  was  a  surprise  to 
the  District  Attorney.  He,  however,  had  no  time  to 
express  himself  on  the  subject,  for  Mr.  Byrd,  stepping 
forward,  immediately  remarked  : 

"  Mr.  Hickory  and  I  have  been  in  consultation,  sir; 
and  we  have  a  few  facts  to  give  you  that  we  think  will 
alter  your  opinion  as  to  the  person  who  murdered  Mrs. 
Clemmens." 

"Is  this  so?"  cried  Mr,  Ferrris,  looking  at  Hickory 
with  a  glance  indicative  of  doubt. 

-  "Yes,  i-/r,"  exclaimed  that  not  easily  abashed  individ- 
ual, with  an  emphasis  decided  enough  to  show  the  state 
of  his  feelings  on  the  subject.  "  After  I  last  saw  you  a 
woman  came  in  my  way  and  put  into  my  hands  so  fresh 
and  promising  a  clue,  that  I  dropped  the  old  scent  at 
once  and  made  instanter  for  the  new  game.  But  I  soon 
found  I  was  not  the  only  sportsman  on  this  trail.  Before 
I  had  taken  a  dozen  steps  I  ran  upon  this  gentleman,  and, 
finding  him  true  grit,  struck  up  a  partnership  with  him 
that  has  led  to  our  bringing  down  the  quarry  together." 

"  Humph  !  "  quoth  the  District  Attorney.  "  Some  very 
remarkable  discoveries  must  have  come  to  light  to  influ- 
ence the  judgment  of  two  such  men  as  yourselves." 

"  You  are  right,"  rejoined  Mr.  Byrd.  "  In  fact,  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  this  case  proved  to  be  one  of 


236  HAND    AND    RING. 

the  most  remarkable  on  record.  It  is  not  often  that 
equally  convincing  evidence  of  guilt  is  found  against  two 
men  having  no  apparent  connection." 

"  And  have  you  collected  such  evidence  ?  " 

"  We  have." 

"  And  who  is  the  person  you  consider  equally  open  to 
suspicion  with  Mr.  Hildreth  ?  " 

"  Crailc  Mansell,  Mrs.  Clemmens'  nephew." 

The  surprise  of  the  District-Attorney  was,  as  Mr. 
Hickory  in  later  days  remarked,  nuts  to  him.  The  solemn 
nature  of  the  business  he  was  engaged  upon  never  dis- 
turbed this  hardy  detective's  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  and 
he  indulged  in  one  of  his  deepest  chuckles  as  he  met  the 
eye  of  Mr.  Ferris. 

"  One  never  knows  what  they  are  going  to  run  upon  in 
a  chase  of  this  kind,  do  they,  sir  ? "  he  remarked,  with  the 
greatest  cheerfulness.  "  Mr.  Mansell  is  no  more  of  a 
gentleman  than  Mr.  Hildreth  ;  yet,  because  he  is  the 
second  one  of  his  caste  who  has  attracted  our  attention, 
you  are  naturally  very  much  surprised.  But  wait  till  you 
hear  what  we  have  to  tell  you.  I  am  confident  you  will 
be  satisfied  with  our  reasons  for  suspecting  this  new 
party."  And  he  glanced  at  Mr.  Byrd,  who,  seeing  no 
cause  for  delay,  proceeded  to  unfold  before  the  District 
Attorney  the  evidence  they  had  collected  against  Mr. 
Mansell 

It  was  strong,  telling,  and  seemingly  conclusive,  as  we 
already  know  ;  and  awoke  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Ferris  the 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  237 

greatest  perplexity  oLhis  life.  It  was  not  simply  that  the 
facts  urged  against  Mr.  Mansell  were  of  the  same  circum- 
stantial character  and  of  almost  the  same  significance  as 
those  already  urged  against  Mr.  Hildreth,  but  that  the 
association  of  Miss  Dare's  name  with  this  new  theory  of 
suspicion  presented  difficulties,  if  it  did  not  involve  con- 
sequences, calculated  to  make  any  friend  of  Mr.  Orcutt 
quail.  And  Mr.  Ferris  was  such  a  friend,  and  knew  very 
well  the  violent  nature  of  the  shock  which  this  eminent 
lawyer  would  experience  at  discovering  the  relations  held 
by  this  trusted  woman  toward  a  man  suspected  of  crime. 

Then  Miss  Dare  herself !  Was  this  beautiful  and 
cherished  woman,  hitherto  believed  by  all  who  knew  her 
to  be  set  high  above  the  reach  of  reproach,  to  be  dragged 
down  from  her  pedestal  and  submitted  to  the  curiosity  of 
the  rabble,  if  not  to  its  insinuations  and  reproach  ?  It 
seemed  hard  ;  even  to  this  stern,  dry  searcher  among 
dead  men's  bones,  it  seemed  both  hard  and  bitter.  And 
yet,  because  he  was  an  honest  man,  he  had  no  thought  of 
paltering  with  his  duty.  He  could  only  take  time  to 
make  sure  what  that  duty  was.  He  accordingly  refrained 
from  expressing  any  opinion  in  regard  to  Mr,  Mansell's 
culpability  to  the  two  detectives,  and  finally  dismissed 
them  without  any  special  orders. 

But  a  day  or  two  after  this  he  sent  for  them  again,  and 
said  : 

"  Since  I  have  seen  you  I  have  considered,  with  due 
carefulness,  the  various  facts  presented  me  in  support  of 


238 


HAND   AND    RING. 


your  belief  that  Craik  Mansell  is  the  man  who  assailed 
the  Widow  Clemmens,  and  have  weighed  theni  against  the 
equally  significant  facts  pointing  toward  Mr.  Hildreth  as 
the  guilty  party,  and  find  but  one  link  lacking  in  the 
former  chain  of  evidence  which  is  not  lacking  in  the  lat- 
ter ;  and  that  is  this  :  Mrs.  Clemmens,  in  the  one  or  two 
lucid  moments  which  returned  to  her  after  the  assault, 
gave  utterance  to  an  exclamation  which  many  think  was 
meant  to  serve  as  a  guide  in  determining  the  person  of 
her  murderer.  She  said,  '  Ring,'  as  Mr.  Byrd  here  will 
doubtless  remember,  and  then  '  Hand,'  as  if  she  wished  to 
fix  upon  the  minds  of  those  about  her  that  the  hand 
uplifted  against  her  wore  a  ring.  At  all  events,  such  a 
conclusion  is  plausible  enough,  and  led  to  my  making  an 
experiment  yesterday,  which  has,  for  ever,  set  the  matter 
at  rest  in  my  own  mind.  I  took  my  stand  at  the  huge 
clock  in  her  house,  just  in  the  attitude  she  was  supposed 
to  occupy  when  struck,  and,  while  in  this  position,  ordered 
my  clerk  to  advance  upon  me  from  behind  with  his  hands 
clasped  about  a  stick  of  wood,  which  he  was  to  bring 
down  within  an  inch  of  my  head.  This  was  done,  and 
while  his  arm  was  in  the  act  of  descending,  I  looked  to 
see  if  by  a  quick  glance  from  the  corner  of  my  eye  I 
could  detect  the  broad  seal  ring  I  had  previously  pushed 
upon  his  little  finger.  I  discovered  that  I  could  ;  that 
indeed  it  was  all  of  the  man  which  I  could  distinctly  see 
without  turning  my  head  completely  around.  The  ring, 
then,  is  an  important  feature  in  this  case,  a  link  without 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  239 

which  any  chain  of  evidence  forged  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  connecting  a  man  with  this  murder  must  neces- 
sarily remain  incomplete  and  consequently  useless.  But 
amongst  the  suspicious  circumstances  brought  to  bear 
against  Mr,  Mansell,  I  discern  no  token  of  a  connection 
between  him  and  any  such  article,  while  we  all  know  that 
Mr.  Hildreth  not  only  wore  a  ring  on  the  day  of  the 
murder,  but  considered  the  circumstance  so  much  in  his 
own  disfavor,  that  he  slipped  it  off  his  finger  when  he 
began  to  see  the  shadow  of  suspicion  falling  upon  him." 

"  You  have,  then,  forgotten  the  diamond  I  picked  up 
from  the  floor  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  dining-room  on  the 
morning  of  the  murder  ?  "  suggested  Mr.  Byrd  with  great 
reluctance. 

"  No,"  answered  the  District  Attorney,  shortly.  "  But 
Miss  Dare  distinctly  avowed  that  ring  to  be  hers,  and 
you  have  brought  me  no  evidence  as  yet  to  prove  her 
statement  false.  If  you  can  supply  such  proof,  or  if  you 
can  show  that  Mr.  Mansell  had  that  ring  on  his  hand 
when  he  entered  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  on  the  fatal 
morning — another  fact,  which,  by-the-way,  rests  as  yet 
upon  inference  only — I  shall  consider  the  case  against 
him  as  strong  as  that  against  Mr,  Hildreth  ;  otherwise, 
not." 

Mr.  Byrd,  with  the  vivid  remembrance  before  him 
of  Miss  Dare's  looks  and  actions  in  the  scene  he  had 
witnessed  between  her  and  the  supposed  Mansell  in  the 
hut,  smiled  with  secret  bitterness  over  this  attempt   of 


240  HAND   AND   RING. 

the  District  Attorney  to  shut  his  eyes  to  the  evident 
guiltiness  of  this  man. 

Mr,  Ferris  saw  this  smile  and  instantly  became  irri- 
tated. 

"  I  do  not  doubt  any  more  than  yourself,"  he  resumed, 
in  a  changed  voice,  "  that  this  young  man  allowed  his 
mind  to  dwell  upon  the  possible  advantages  which  might 
accrue  to  himself  if  his  aunt  should  die.  He  may  even 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  meditate  the  commission  of  a  crime 
to  insure  these  advantages.  But  whether  the  crime  which 
did  indeed  take  place  the  next  day  in  his  aunt's  house 
was  the  result  of  his  meditations,  or  whether  he  found  his 
own  purpose  forestalled  by  an  attack  made  by  another 
person  possessing  no  less  interest  than  himself  in  seeing 
this  woman  dead,  is  not  determined  by  the  evidence  you 
bring." 

"  Then  you  do  not  favor  his  arrest  ? "  inquired  Mr. 
Byrd. 

"  No.  The  vigorous  measures  which  were  taken  in 
Mr.  Hildreth's  case,  and  the  unfortunate  event  to  which 
they  have  led,  ar^  terrible  enough  to  satisfy  the  public 
craving  after  excitement  for  a  week  at  least.  I  am  not 
fond  of  driving  men  to  madness  myself,  and  unless  I  can 
be  made  to  see  that  my  duty  demands  a  complete  trans- 
feral of  my  suspicions  from  Hildreth  to  Mansell,  I  can 
advise  nothing  more  than  a  close  but  secret  surveillance 
of  the  latter's  movements  until  the  action  of  the  Grand 
Jury  determines  whether  the  evidence  against  Mr. 
Hildreth  is  sufficient  to  hold  him  for  trial. 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  241 

Mr,  Byrd,  who  had  such  solid,  if  private  and  uncom- 
municable,  reasons  for  believing  in  the  guilt  of  Craik 
Mansell,  was  somewhat  taken  aback  at  this  unlooked-for 
decision  of  Mr.  Ferris,  and,  remembering  the  temptation 
which  a  man  like  Hickory  must  feel  to  make  his  cause 
good  at  all  hazards,  cast  a  sharp  look  toward  that  blunt- 
spoken  detective,  in  some  doubt  as  to  whether  he  could 
be  relied  upon  to  keep  his  promise  in  the  face  of  this 
manifest  disappointment. 

But  Hickory  had  given  his  word,  and  Hickory  remain- 
ed firm  ;  and  Mr.  Byrd,  somewhat  relieved  in  his  own 
mind,  was  about  to  utter  his  acquiescence  in  the  District 
Attorney's  views,  when  a  momentary  interruption 
occurred,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  exchange 
a  few  words  aside  with  his  colleague. 

"  Hickory,"  he  whispered,  "  what  do  you  think  of  this 
objection  which  Mr.  Ferris  makes  ?  " 

"  I  ? "  was  the  hurried  reply.  "  Oh,  I  think  there  is 
something  in  it." 

"Something  in  it?" 

"Yes,  Mr.  Mansell  is  the  last  man  to  wear  a  ring, 
I  must  acknowledge.  Indeed,  I  took  some  pains  while  in 
Buffalo  to  find  out  if  he  ever  indulged  in  any  such  vanity, 
and  was  told  decidedly  No.  As  to  the  diamond  you 
mentioned,  that  is  certainly  entirely  too  rich  a  jewel  for  a 
man  like  him  to  possess.  I — I  am  a  afraid  the  ab- 
sence of  this  link  in  our  chain  of  evidence  is  fatal. 
I  should  n't  wonder  if  the  old  scent  was  the  best, 
after  all." 


242  HAND   AND    RING 

"  But  Miss  Dare — her  feelings  and  her  convictions,  as 
manifested  by  the  words  she  made  use  of  in  the  hut  ?  " 
objected  Mr.  Byrd. 

•*  Oh  !  she  thinks  he  is  guilty,  of  course  ! 

She  thinks  !  Mr.  Byrd  stared  at  his  companion  for  a 
minute  in  silence.  She  thinks  !  Then  there  was  a  pos- 
sibility, it  seems,  that  it  was  only  her  thought,  and  that 
Mr.  Mansell  was  not  really  the  culpable  man  he  had  been 
brought  to  consider  him. 

But  here  an  exclamation,  uttered  by  Mr.  Ferris,  called 
their  attention  back  to  that  gentleman.  He  was  reading 
a  letter  which  had  evidently  been  just  brought  in,  and  his 
expression  was  one  of  amazement,  mixed  with  doubt.  As 
they  looked  toward  him  they  met  his  eye,  that  had  a 
troubled  and  somewhat  abashed  expression,  which  con- 
vinced them  that  the  communication  he  held  in  his  hand 
was  in  some  way  connected  with  the  matter  under  consid- 
eration. 

Surprised  themselves,  they  unconsciously  started  for- 
ward, when,  in  a  dry  and  not  altogether  pleased  tone,  the 
District  Attorney  observed  : 

"  This  affair  seems  to  be  full  of  coincidences.  You 
talk  of  a  missing  link,  and  it  is  immediately  thrust  under 
your  nose.     Read  that  !  " 

And  he  pushed  toward  them  the  following  epistle, 
roughly  scrawled  on  a  sheet  of  common  writing-paper  : 

If  Mr.  Ferris  is  anxious  for  justice,  and  can  believe  that  suspi- 
cion does  not  always  attach  itself  to  the  guilty,  let  him,  or  some  one 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  243 

whose  business  it  is,  inquire  01  Miss  Imogene  Dare,  of  this  town,  how 
she  came  to  claim  as  her  own  the  ring  that  was  piclced  up  on  the  floor 
of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house. 

"  Well !  "  cried  Mr.  Byrd,  glancing  at  Hickory,  "  what 
are  we  to  think  of  this  ?  " 

"  Looks  like  the  work  of  old  Sally  Perkins,"  observed 
the  other,  pointing  out  the  lack  of  date  and  signature. 

**  So  it  does,"  acquiesced  Mr.  Byrd,  in  a  relieved  tone. 
"The  miserable  old  wretch  is  growing  impatient." 

But  Mr.  Ferris,  with  a  gloomy  frown,  shortly  said  : 

"  The  language  is  not  that  of  an  ignorant  old  creature 
like  Sally  Perkins,  whatever  the  writing  may  be.  Besides, 
how  could  she  have  known  about  the  ring  ?  The  persons 
who  were  present  at  the  time  it  was  picked  up  are  not  of 
the  gossiping  order." 

"  Who,  then,  do  you  think  wrote  this  ?  "  inquired  Mr. 
Byrd. 

"  That  is  what  I  wish  you  to  find  out,"  declared  the 
District  Attorney. 

Mr.  Hickory  at  once  took  it  in  his  hand. 

"Wait,"  said  he,  "I  have  an  idea."  And  he  carried 
the  letter  to  one  side,  where  he  stood  examining  it  for 
several  minutes.  When  he  came  back  he  looked  tolerably 
excited  and  somewhat  pleased.  "  I  believe  I  can  tell  you 
who  wrote  it,"  said  he. 

"Who?"  inquired  the  District  Attorney. 
For  reply  the  detective  placed  his  finger  upon  a  name 
that  was  written  in  the  letter. 


244  HAND    AND   RING. 

"  Imogene  Dare  ?  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Ferris,  astonished. 

"  She  herself,"  proclaimed  the  self-satisfied  detective. 

"  What  makes  you  think  that  ? "  the  District  Attorney 
slowly  asked. 

"Because  I  have  seen  her  writing,  and  studied  her  sig- 
nature, and,  ably  as  she  has  disguised  her  hand  in  the 
rest  of  the  letter,  it  betrays  itself  in  her  name.  See  here." 
And  Hickory  took  from  his  pocket-book  a  small  slip  of 
paper  containing  her  autograph,  and  submitted  it  to  the 
test  of  comparison. 

The  similarity  between  the  two  signatures  was  evident, 
and  both  Mr.  Byrd  and  Mr.  Ferris  were  obliged  to  allow 
the  detective  might  be  right,  though  the  admission  opened 
up  suggestions  of  the  most  formidable  character. 

"It  is  a  turn  for  which  I  am  not  prepared,"  declared 
the  District  Attorney. 

"  It  is  a  turn  for  which  we  are  not  prepared,"  repeated 
Mr.  Byrd,  with  a  controlling  look  at  Hickory. 

"  Let  us,  then,  defer  further  consideration  of  the  matter 
till  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  see  Miss  Dare,"  sug- 
gested Mr.  Ferris. 

And  the  two  detectives  were  very  glad  to  acquiesce  in 
this,  for  they  were  as  much  astonished  as  he  at  this  action 
of  Miss  Dare,  though,  with  their  better  knowledge  of  her 
feelings,  they  found  it  comparatively  easy  to  understand 
how  her  remorse  and  the  great  anxiety  she  doubtless  feit 
for  Mr.  Hildreth  had  sufficed  to  drive  her  to  such  an 
extreme  and  desperate  measure. 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  245 


XX. 

A    CRISIS. 

Qtteen.    Alas,  how  is  5t  with  you  ? 

That  you  do  bend  your  eye  on  vacancy. 

And  with  the  incorporeal  air  .^o  bold  discourse?  ^ 

***** 
Your  bedded  hair,  like  life  in  excrements. 
Starts  up  and  stands  on  end. 

***** 

Whereon  do  you  look  ? 

Hamlet.    On  him  !    On  him  !    Look  you  how  pale  he  glares! 
His  form  and  cause  conjoined,  preaching  to  stones. 
Would  make  them  capable.    Do  not  look  upon  me  ; 
Lest,  with  this  piteous^ction,  you  convert 
My  stern  effects  !  then  what  I  have  to  do 
Will  want  true  color  ;  tears,  perchance,  for  blood.— Hamlet 

THAT  my  readers  may  understand  even  better  than 
Byrd  and  Hickory  how  it  was  that  Imogene  came 
to  write  this  letter,  I  must  ask  them  to  consider  certain 
incidents  that  had  occurred  in  a  quarter  far  removed 
from  the  eye  of  the  detectives. 

Mr.  Orcutt's  mind  had  never  been  at  rest  concerning 
the  peculiar  attitude  assumed  by  Imogene  Dare  at  the 
time  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  murder.  Time  and  thought  had 
not  made  it  any  more  possible  for  him  to  believe  now 
than  then  that  she  knew  any  thing  of  the  matter  beyond 
what  appeared  to  the  general  eye  :  but  he  could  not 
forget  the  ring.  It  haunted  him.  Fifty  times  a  day  he 
asked  himself  what  she  had  meant  by  claiming  as  her  own 


246  HAND   AND    RING- 

a  jewel  which  had  been  picked  up  from  the  floor  of  a 
strange  house  at  a  time  so  dreadful,  and  which,  in  despite 
of  her  explanations  to  him,  he  found  it  impossible  to 
believe  was  hers  or  ever  could  have  been  hers  ?  He  was 
even  tempted  to  ask  her  ;  but  he  never  did.  The  words 
would  not  come.  Though  they  faltered  again  and  again 
upon  his  lips,  he  could  not  give  utterance  to  them  ;  no, 
though  with  every  passing  day  he  felt  that  the  bond  unit- 
ing her  to  him  was  growing  weaker  and  weaker,  and  that 
if  something  did  not  soon  intervene  to  establish  confi- 
dence between  them,  he  would  presently  lose  all  hope 
of  the  treasure  for  the  possession  of  which  he  was  now 
ready  to  barter  away  half  the  remaining  years  of  his  life. 

Her  increasing  reticence,  and  the  almost  stony  look  of 
misery  that  now  confronted  him  without  let  or  hindrance 
from  her  wide  gray  eyes,  were  not  calculated  to  reassure 
him  or  make  his  future  prospects  look  any  brighter.  Her 
pain,  if  pain  it  were,  or  remorse,  if  remorse  it  could  be, 
was  not  of  a  kind  to  feel  the  influence  of  time  ;  and, 
struck  with  dismay,  alarmed  in  spite  of  himself,  if  not  for 
her  reason  at  least  for  his  own,  he  watched  her  from  day 
to  day,  feeling  that  now  he  would  give  his  life  not  merely 
to  possess  her,  but  to  understand  her  and  the  secret  that 
was  gnawing  at  her  heart. 

At  last  there  came  a  day  when  he  could  no  longer 
restrain  himself.  She  had  been  seated  in  his  presence, 
and  had  been  handed  a  letter  which  for  the  moment 
seemed  to  thoroughly  overwhelm  her.     We  know  what 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  247 

that  letter  was.  It  was  the  note  which  had  been  sent  as 
a  decoy  by  the  detective  Hickory,  but  which  she  had  no 
reason  to  doubt  was  a  real  communication  from  Craik 
Mansell,  despite  the  strange  handwriting  on  the  envelope. 
It  prayed  her  for  an  interview.  It  set  the  time  and  men- 
tioned the  place  of  meeting,  and  created  for  the  instant 
such  a  turmoil  in  her  usually  steady  brain  that  she  could 
not  hide  it  from  the  searching  eyes  that  watched  her. 

"  What  is  it,  Imogene  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Orcutt,  drawing 
near  her  with  a  gesture  of  such  uncontrollable  anxiety,  it 
looked  as  if  he  were  about  to  snatch  the  letter  from  her 
hand. 

For  reply  she  rose,  walked  to  the  grate,  in  which  a  low 
w'ood  fire  was  burning,  and  plunged  the  paper  in  among 
the  coals.  When  it  was  all  consumed  she  turned  and 
faced  Mr.  Orcutt. 

"You  must  excuse  me,"  she  murmured  ;  "but  the 
letter  was  one  which  I  absolutely  desired  no  one  to  see." 

But  he  did  not  seem  to  hear  her  apology.  He  stood 
with  his  gaze  fixed  on  the  fire,  and  his  hand  clenched 
against  his  heart,  as  if  something  in  the  fate  of  that 
wretched  sheet  of  paper  reminded  him  of  the  love  and 
hope  that  were  shrivelling  up  before  his  eyes. 

She  saw  his  look  and  drooped  her  head  with  a  sudden 
low  moan  of  mingled  shame  and  suffering. 

"Am  I  killing  ji^^^z  .?  "  she  faintly  cried.  "Are  my 
strange,  wild  ways  driving  you  to  despair  ?  I  had  not 
thought  of  that.  I  am  so  selfish,  I  had  not  thought  of 
that !  " 


248  HAND   AND    KING. 

This  evidence  of  feeling,  the  first  she  had  ever  shown 
him,  moved  Mr.  Orcutt  deeply.  Advancing  toward  her, 
with  sudden  passion,  he  took  her  by  the  hand. 

"  Killing  me  ?  "  he  repeated.  "  Yes,  you  are  killing 
me.  Don't  you  see  how  fast  I  am  growing  old  ?  Don't 
you  see  how  the  dust  lies  thick  upon  the  books  that  used 
to  be  my  solace  and  delight  ?  I  do  not  understand  you, 
Imogene.  I  love  you  and  I  do  not  understand  your 
grief,  or  what  it  is  that  is  affecting  you  in  this  terrible 
way.  Tell  me.  Let  me  know  the  nature  of  the  forces 
with  which  I  have  to  contend,  and  I  can  bear  all  the 
rest." 

This  appeal,  forced  as  it  was  from  lips  unused  to 
prayer,  seemed  to  strike  her,  absorbed  though  she  was  In 
her  own  suffering.  Looking  at  him  with  real  concern,  she 
tried  to  speak,  but  the  words  faltered  on  her  tongue. 
They  came  at  last,  however,  and  he  heard  her  say  : 

"  I  wish  I  could  weep,  if  only  to  show  you  I  am  not 
utterly  devoid  of  womanly  sympathy  for  an  anguish  I 
cannot  cure.  But  the  fountain  of  my  tears  is  dried  at  its 
source.  I  do  not  think  I  can  ever  weep  again.  I  am 
condemned  to  tread  a  path  of  misery  and  despair,  and 
must  traverse  it  to  the  end  without  weakness  and  without 
help.  Do  not  ask  me  why,  for  I  can  never  tell  you.  And 
do  not  detain  me  now,  or  try  to  make  me  talk,  for  I  must 
go  where  I  can  be  alone  and  silent." 

She  was  slipping  away,  but  he  caught  her  by  the  wrist 
and  drew  her  back.  His  pain  and  perplexity  had 
reached  their  climax. 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  249 

"You  must  speak,"  he  cried.  "I  have  paltered  long 
enough  with  this  matter.  You  must  tell  me  what  it  is  that 
is  destroying  your  happiness  and  mine." 

But  her  eyes,  turning  toward  him,  seemed  to  echo  that 
must  in  a  look  of  disdain  eloquent  enough  to  scorn  all 
help  from  words,  and  in  the  indomitable  determination  of 
her  whole  aspect  he  saw  that  he  might  slay  her,  but  that 
he  could  never  make  her  speak. 

Loosing  her  with  a  gesture  of  despair,  he  turned  away. 
When  he  glanced  back  again  she  was  gone. 

The  result  of  this  interview  was  naturally  an  increased 
doubt  and  anxiety  on  his  part.  He  could  not  attend  to 
his  duties  with  any  degree  of  precision,  he  was  so  haunted 
by  uneasy  surmises  as  to  what  might  have  been  the  con- 
tents of  the  letter  which  he  had  thus  seen  her  destroy  be- 
fore his  eyes.  As  for  her  words,  they  were  like  her  con- 
duct, an  insolvable  mystery,  for  which  he  had  no  key. 

His  failure  to  find  her  at  home  when  he  returned  that 
night  added  to  his  alarm,  especially  as  he  remembered 
the  vivid  thunder-storm  that  had  deluged  the  town  in  the 
afternoon.  Nor,  though  she  came  in  very  soon  and 
offered  both  excuses  and  explanations  for  her  absence, 
did  he  experience  any  appreciable  relief,  or  feel  at  all 
satisfied  that  he  was  not  threatened  with  some  secret  and 
terrible  catastrophe.  Indeed,  the  air  of  vivid  and  fever- 
ish excitement  which  pervaded  every  look  of  hers  from 
this  time,  making  each  morning  and  evening  distinctive 
in  his  memory  as  a  season  of  fresh  fear  and  renewed  sus- 


250  HAND   AND    RING. 

pense,  was  enough  of  itself  to  arouse  this  sense  of  an  un- 
known, but  surely  approaching,  danger.  He  saw  she  was 
on  the  look  out  for  some  event,  he  knew  not  what,  and 
studied  the  papers  as  sedulously  as  she,  in  the  hope  of 
coming  upon  some  revelation  that  should  lay  bare  the 
secret  of  this  new  condition  of  hers.  At  last  he  thought 
he  had  found  it.  Coming  home  one  day  from  the  court, 
he  called  her  into  his  presence,  and,  without  pause  or 
preamble,  exclaimed,  with  almost  cruel  abruptness  : 

"An  event  of  possible  interest  to  you  has  just  taken 
place.  The  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  has  just  cut  his 
throat." 

He  saw  before  he  had  finished  the  first  clause  that  he 
had  struck  at  the  very  citadel  of  her  terrors  and  her  woe. 
At  the  end  of  the  second  sentence  he  knew,  beyond  all 
doubt  now,  what  it  was  she  had  been  fearing,  if  not  ex- 
pecting. Yet  she  said  not  a  word,  and  by  no  movement 
betrayed  that  the  steel  had  gone  through  and  through  her 
heart. 

A  demon — the  maddening  demon  of  jealousy — 
gripped  him  for  the  first  time  with  relentless  force. 

"  Ah,  you  have  been  looking  for  it  ? "  he  cried  in  a 
choked  voice.  "  You  know  this  man,  then — knew  him, 
perhaps,  before  the  murder  of  Mrs.  Clemmens ;  knew 
him,  and — and,  perhaps,  loved  him  ?  " 

She  did  not  reply. 

He  struck  his  forehead  with  his  hand,  as  if  the  moment 
was  perfectly  intolerable  to  him. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  25 1 

"  Answer,"  he  cried.  "  Did  you  know  Gouverneur 
Hildreth  or  not  ?  " 

*'  Gouverneur  Hildreth  ?  "  Oh,  the  sharp  surprise,  the 
wailing  anguish  of  her  tone  !  Mr.  Orcutt  stood  amazed. 
"  It  is  not  he  who  has  made  this  attempt  upon  his  life  ! — 
not  he  !  "  she  shrieked  like  one  appalled. 

Perhaps  because  all  other  expression  or  emotion  failed 
him,  Mr.  Orcutt  broke  forth  into  a  loud  and  harrowing 
laugh.  "And  who  else  should  it  be?"  he  cried. 
"What  other  man  stands  accused  of  having  murdered 
Widow  Clemmens  ?  You  are  mad,  Imogene  ;  you  don't 
know  what  you  say  or  what  you  do." 

"  Yes,  I  am  mad,"  she  repeated — "  mad  !  "  and  leaned 
her  forehead  forward  on  the  back  of  a  high  chair  beside 
which  she  had  been  standing,  and  hid  her  face  and  strug- 
gled with  herself  for  a  moment,  while  the  clock  went  on 
ticking,  and  the  wretched  surveyer  of  her  sorrow  stood 
looking  at  her  bended  head  like  a  man  who  does  not 
know  whether  it  is  he  or  she  who  is  in  the  most  danger  of 
losing  his  reason. 

At  last  a  word  struggled  forth  from  between  her 
clasped  hands. 

"  When  did  it  happen  ?  "  she  gasped,  without  lifting 
her  head.  "  Tell  me  all  about  it.  I  think  I  can  under- 
stand." 

The  noted  lawyer  smiled  a  bitter  smile,  and  spoke  for 
the  first  time,  without  pity  and  without  mercy. 

"  He  has  been  trying  for  some  days  to  effect  his  death. 


252  .  HAND   AND    RING. 

His  arrest  and  the  little  prospect  there  is  of  his  escaping 
trial  seem  to  have  maddened  his  gentlemanly  brain. 
Fire-arms  were  not  procurable,  neither  was  poison  nor  a 
rope,  but  a  pewter  plate  is  enough  in  the  hands  of  a 
desperate  man.    He  broke  one  in  two  last  night,  and " 

He  paused,  sick  and  horror-stricken.  Her  face  had 
risen  upon  him  from  the  back  of  the  chair,  and  was  star- 
ing upon  him  like  that  of  a  Medusa.  Before  that  gaze 
the  flesh  crept  on  his  bones  and  the  breath  of  life  refused 
to  pass  his  lips.  Gazing  at  her  with  rising  horror,  he  saw 
her  stony  lips  slowly  part. 

"  Don't  go  on,"  she  whispered.  "  I  can  see  it  all  with- 
out the  help  of  words."  Then,  in  a  tone  that  seemed  to 
come  from  some  far-off  world  of  nightmare,  she  painfully 
gasped,  "  Is  he  dead  ?  " 

Mr.  Orcutt  was  a  man  who,  up  to  the  last  year,  had 
never  known  what  it  was  to  experience  a  real  and  con- 
trolling emotion.  Life  with  him  had  meant  success  in 
public  affairs,  and  a  certain  social  pre-eminence  that 
made  his  presence  in  any  place  the  signal  of  admiring 
looks  and  respectful  attentions.  But  let  no  man  think 
that,  because  his  doom  delays,  it  will  never  come.  Pas- 
sions such  as  he  had  deprecated  in  others,  and  desires 
such  as  he  had  believed  impossible  to  himself,  had  seized 
upon  him  with  ungovernable  power,  and  in  this  moment 
especially  he  felt  himself  yielding  to  their  sway  with  no 
more  power  of  resistance  than  a  puppet  experiences  in  the 
grasp  of  a  whirlwind.     Meeting  that  terrible  eye  of  hers, 


V  H,^  paused,  sick  and  horror-stricken.     Her  face  had  risen  upon  him  from  the 
back  of  the  chair,  and  was  staring  at  him  like  that  of  a  Medusa.' —(Paee  2^2.) 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  253 

burning  with  an  anxiety  for  a  man  he  despised,  and 
hearing  that  agonized  question  from  lips  whose  touch  he 
had  never  known,  he  experienced  a  sudden  wild  and 
almost  demoniac  temptation  to  hurl  back  the  implacable 
"  Yes  "  that  he  felt  certain  would  strike  her  like  a  dead 
woman  to  the  ground.  But  the  horrid  impulse  passed, 
and,  with  a  quick  remembrance  of  the  claims  of  honor 
upon  one  bearing  his  name  and  owning  his  history,  he 
controlled  himself  with  a  giant  resolution,  and  merely 
dropping  his  eyes  from  an  anguish  he  dared  no  longer 
confront,  answered,  quietly  : 

"  No  ;  he  has  hurt  himself  severely  and  has  disfigured 
his  good  looks  for  life,  but  he  will  not  die  ;  or  so  the 
physicians  think." 

A  long,  deep,  shuddering  sigh  swept  through  the  room. 
"  Thank  God  !  "  came  from  her  lips,  and  then  all  was 
quiet  again. 

He  looked  up  in  haste  ;  he  could  not  bear  the  silence. 
"  Imogene "  he  began,  but  instantly  paused  in  sur- 
prise at  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  her  expres- 
sion. "What  do  you  intend  to  do?"  was  his  quick 
demand.  '*  You  look  as  I  have  never  seen  you  looh 
before." 

"  Do  not  ask  me  !  "  she  returned.  "  I  have  no  words 
for  what  I  am  going  to  do.  V^haX.  you  must  do  is  to  see 
that  Gouverneur  Hildreth  is  released  from  prison.  He 
is  not  guilty,  mind  you  ;  he  never  committed  this  crime 
of  which  he  is  suspecied,  and  in  the  shame  of  which  sus- 


254  HAND   AND    RING. 

picion  he  has  this  day  attempted  his  life.  If  he  is  kept 
in  the  restraint  which  is  so  humiliating  to  him,  and  if  he 
dies  there,  it  will  be  murder — do  you  hear  ?  murder  ! 
And  he  will  die  there  if  he  is  not  released  ;  I  know  his 
feelings  only  too  well." 

"But,  Imogene " 

"  Hush  !  don't  argue.  'T  is  a  matter  of  life  and  death, 
I  tell  you.  He  must  be  released  !  I  know,"  she  went  on, 
hurriedly,  "  what  it  is  you  want  to  say.  You  think  you 
cannot  do  this  ;  that  the  evidence  is  all  against  him  ;  that 
he  went  to  prison  of  his  own  free  will  and  cannot  hope 
for  release  till  his  guilt  or  innocence  has  been  properly 
inquired  into.  But  I  know  you  can  effect  his  enlarge- 
ment if  you  v/ill.  You  are  a  lawyer,  and  understand  all 
the  crooks  and  turns  by  which  a  man  can  sometimes  be 
made  to  evade  the  grasp  of  justice.  Use  your  knowledge. 
Avail  yourself  of  your  influence  with  the  authorities,  and 
I "  she  paused  and  gave  him  a  long,  long  look. 

He  was  at  her  side  in  an  instant. 

"  You  would — what  ?"  he  cried,  taking  her  hand  in  his 
and  pressing  it  impulsively. 

"  I  would  grant  you  whatever  you  ask,"  she  murmured, 
in  a  weariful  tone. 

"Would  you  be  my  wife?"  he  passionately  inquired. 

"Yes,"  was  the  choked  reply  ;  "  if  I  did  not  die  first." 

He  caught  her  to  his  breast  in  rapture.  He  knelt  at 
her  side  and  threw  his  arms  about  her  waist. 

"  You  shall  not  die,"  he  cried.  "  You  shall  live  and  be 
happy.     Only  mnrry  me  to-day." 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  255 

"  Not  till  Gouverneur  Hildreth  be  released,"  she  inter- 
posed, gently. 

He  started  as  if  touched  by  a  galvanic  battery,  and 
slowly  rose  up  and  coldly  looked  at  her. 

"  Do  you  love  him  so  madly  you  would  sell  yourself  for 
his  sake  ?  "  he  sternly  demanded. 

With  a  quick  gesture  she  threw  back  her  head  as  though 
the  indignant  "  No  "  that  sprang  to  her  lips  would  flash 
out  whether  she  would  or  not.  But  she  restrained  herself 
in  time. 

"  I  cannot  answer,"  she  returned. 

But  he  was  master  now — master  of  this  dominating 
spirit  that  had  held  him  in  check  for  so  long  a  time,  and 
he  was  not  to  be  put  off. 

"  You  must  answer,"  he  sternly  commanded.  "  I  have 
the  right  to  know  the  extent  of  your  feeling  for  this  man, 
and  I  will.  Do  you  love  him,  Imogene  Dare  ?  Tell  me, 
or  I  here  swear  that  I  will  do  nothing  for  him,  either  now 
or  at  a  time  when  he  may  need  my  assistance  more  than 
you  know." 

This  threat,  uttered  as  he  uttered  it,  could  have  but  one 
effect.  Turning  aside,  so  that  he  should  not  see  the 
shuddering  revolt  in  her  eyes,  she  mechanically  whispered  : 

"  And  what  if  I  did  ?  Would  it  be  so  very  strange  ? 
Youth  admires  youth,  Mr.  Orcutt,  and  Mr.  Hildreth  is 
very  handsome  and  very  unfortunate.  Do  not  oblige  me 
to  say  more." 

Mr.  Orcutt,  across  whose  face  a  dozen  different  emo- 


256  HAND   AND    RING. 

tions  had  flitted  during  the  utterance  of  these  few  words, 
drew  back  till  half  the  distance  of  the  room  lay  between 
them. 

"  Nor  do  I  wish  to  hear  any  more,"  he  rejoined,  slowly. 
"  You  have  said  enough,  quite  enough.  I  understand 
now  all  the  past — all  your  terrors  and  all  your  secret 
doubts  and  unaccountable  behavior.  The  man  you  loved 
Avas  in  danger,  and  you  did  not  know  how  to  manage  his 
release.  Well,  well,  I  am  sorry  for  you,  Imogene.  I 
wish  I  could  help  you.  I  love  you  passionately,  and 
would  make  you  my  wife  in  face  of  your  affection  for  this 
man  if  I  could  do  for  you  what  you  request.  But  it  is 
impossible.  Never  during  the  whole  course  of  my  career 
has  a  blot  rested  upon  my  integrity  as  a  lawyer.  I  am 
known  as  an  honest  man,  and  honest  will  I  remain  known  to 
the  last.  Besides,  I  could  do  nothing  to  effect  his  enlarge- 
ment if  I  tried.  Nothing  but  the  plainest  proof  that  he 
is  innocent,  or  that  another  man  is  guilty,  would  avail 
now  to  release  him  from  the  suspicion  which  his  own  ad- 
missions have  aroused." 

"  Then  there  is  no  hope  ?  "  was  her  slow  and  despairing 
reply. 

"  None  at  present,  Imogene,"  was  his  stern,  almost  as 
despairing,  answer. 

As  Mr.  Orcutt  sat  over  his  lonely  hearth  that  evening, 
a  servant  brought  to  him  the  following  letter  : 

Dear  Friend, — It  is  not  fit  that  I  should  remain  any  longer 
under  your  roof.     I  have  a  duty  before  me  which  separates  me  for- 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  2$/ 

ever  from  the  friendship  and  protection  of  honorable  men  and  women. 
No  home  but  such  as  I  can  provide  for  myself  by  the  work  of  my 
own  hands  shall  henceforth  shelter  the  disgraced  head  of  Imogene 
Dare.  Her  fate,  whatever  it  may  prove  to  be,  she  bears  alone,  and 
you,  who  have  been  so  kind,  shall  never  suffer  from  any  association 
with  one  whose  name  must  henceforth  become  the  sport  of  the  crowd, 
if  not  the  execration  of  the  virtuous.  If  your  generous  heart  rebels 
at  this,  choke  it  relentlessly  down.  I  shall  be  already  gone  when  you 
read  these  lines,  and  nothing  you  could  do  or  say  would  make  me 
come  back.  Good-by.  and  may  Heaven  grant  you  forgetfulness  of 
one  whose  only  return  to  your  benefactions  has  been  to  make  you 
suffer  almost  as  much  as  she  suffers  herself. 

As  Mr.  Orcutt  read  these  last  lines,  District  Attorney 
Ferris  was  unsealing  the  anonymous  missive  which  has 
already  been  laid  before  my  readers. 


258  HAND   AND    RING. 


XXI. 

A  heart's  martyrdom. 

Oh  that  a  man  might  know 

The  end  of  this  day's  business,  ere  it  come  ; 

But  it  sufficeth  that  the  day  will  end. 

And  then  the  end  is  Itnown  ! — Julius  C/ESAr. 

MR.  FERRIS'  first  impulse  upon  dismissing  the 
detectives  had  been  to  carry  the  note  he  had 
received  to  Mr,  Orcutt.  But  a  night's  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  subject  convinced  him  that  the  wisest  course 
would  be  to  follow  the  suggestions  conveyed  in  the  letter, 
and  seek  a  direct  interview  with  Imogene  Dare. 

It  was  not  an  agreeable  task  for  him  to  undertake. 
Miss  Dare  was  a  young  lady  whom  he  had  always  held  in 
the  highest  esteem.  He  .had  hoped  to  see  her  the  wife 
of  his  friend,  and  would  have  given  much  from  his  own 
private  stock  of  hope  and  happiness  to  have  kept  her 
name  free  from  the  contumely  which  any  association  with 
this  dreadful  crime  must  necessarily  bring  upon  it.  But 
his  position  as  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county  would 
not  allow  him  to  consult  his  feelings  any  further  in  a 
case  of  such  serious  import.  The  condition  of  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth  was,  to  say  the  least,  such  as  demanded  the  most 
impartial  action  on  the  part  of  the  public  officials,  and  if 
through  any  explanation  of  Miss  Dare  the  one  missing 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  259 

link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  against  another  could  be 
supplied,  it  was  certainly  his  duty  to  do  all  he  could  to 
insure  it. 

Accordingly  at  a  favorable  hour  the  next  day,  he  made 
his  appearance  at  Mr.  Orcutt's  house,  and  learning  that 
Miss  Dare  had  gone  to  Professor  Darling's  house  for  a 
few  days,  followed  her  to  her  new  home  and  requested 
an  interview. 

She  at  once  responded  to  his  call.  Little  did  he  think 
as  she  came  into  the  parlor  where  he  sat,  and  with  even 
more  than  her  usual  calm  self-possession  glided  down 
the  length  of  that  elegant  apartment  to  his  side,  that  she 
had  just  come  from  a  small  room  on  the  top  floor,  where, 
in  the  position  of  a  hired  seamstress,  she  had  been  en- 
gaged in  cutting  out  the  wedding  garments  of  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  house. 

Her  greeting  was  that  of  a  person  attempting  to  feign 
a  surprise  she  did  not  feel. 

"  Ah,"  said  she,  "  Mr.  Ferris  !  This  is  an  unexpected 
pleasure." 

But  Mr.  Ferris  had  no  heart  for  courtesies. 

*'  Miss  Dare,"  he  began,  without  any  of  the  prelimi- 
naries which  might  be  expected  of  him,  "  I  have  come 
upon  a  disagreeable  errand.  I  have,  a  favor  to  ask.  You 
are  in  the  possession  of  a  piece  of  information  which  it  is 
highly  necessary  for  me  to  share." 

"  I  ? " 

The  surprise  betrayed  in  this  single  word  was  no  more 


26o  HAND   AND    RING. 

than  was  to  be  expected  from  a  lady  thus  addressed, 
neither  did  the  face  she  turned  so  steadily  toward  him 
alter  under  his  searching  gaze. 

"If  I  can  tell  you  any  thing  that  you  wish  to  know," 
she  quietly  declared,  "  I  am  certainly  ready  to  do  so,  sir." 

Deceived  by  the  steadiness  of  her  tone  and  the  straight- 
forward look  of  her  eyes,  he  proceeded,  with  a  sudden 
releasement  from  his  embarrassment,  to  say  : 

"  I  shall  have  to  recall  to  your  mind   a  most  painful 
incident.     You  remember,  on  the  morning  when  we  met 
at  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house,  claiming  as  your  own  a  diamond 
ring  which  was  picked  up  from  the  floor  at  your  feet  ?" 
1  do. 

"Miss  Dare,  was  this  ring  really  yours,  or  were  you 
misled  by  its  appearance  into  merely  thinking  it  your 
property  ?  My  excuse  for  asking  this  is  that  the  ring,  if 
not  yours,  is  likely  to  become  an  important  factor  in  the 
case  to  which  the  murder  of  this  unfortunate  woman  has 
led." 

*'  Sir "     The  pause  which  followed  the  utterance 

of  this  one  word  was  but  momentary,  but  in  it  what  faint 
and  final  hope  may  have  gone  down  into  the  depths  of 
everlasting  darkness  God  only  knows.  "  Sir,  since  you 
ask  me  the  question,  I  will  say  that  in  one  sense  of  the 
term  it  was  mine,  and  in  another  it  was  not.  The  ring 
was  mine,  because  it  had  been  offered  to  me  as  a  gift  the 
day  before.  The  ring  was  not  mine,  because  I  had 
refused  to  take  it  when  it  was  offered." 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  26l 

At  these  words,  spoken  with  such  quietness  they 
seemed  like  the  mechanical  utterances  of  a  woman  in  a 
trance,  Mr,  Ferris  started  to  his  feet.  He  could  no 
longer  doubt  that  evidence  of  an  important  nature  lay 
before  him. 

"  And  may  I  ask,"  he  inquired,  without  any  idea  of  the 
martyrdom  he  caused,  "  what  was  the  name  of  the  person 
who  offered  you  this  ring,  and  from  whom  you  refused  to 
take  it  ?" 

"  The  name  ?  "  She  quavered  for  a  moment,  and  her 
eyes  flashed  up  toward  heaven  with  a  look  of  wild  appeal, 
as  if  the  requirement  of  this  moment  was  more  than  even 
she  had  strength  to  meet.  Then  a  certain  terrible  calm 
settled  upon  her,  blotting  the  last  hint  of  feeling  from  her 
face,  and,  rising  up  in  her  turn,  she  met  Mr.  Ferris'  in- 
quiring eye,  and  slowly  and  distinctly  replied  : 

"  It  was  Craik  Mansell,  sir.  He  is  a  nephew  of  Mrs. 
Clemmens." 

It  was  the  name  Mr,  Ferris  had  come  there  to  hear,  yet 
it  gave  him  a  slight  shock  when  it  fell  from  her  lips — per- 
haps because  his  mind  was  still  running  upon  her  sup- 
posed relations  with  Mr.  Orcutt.  But  he  did  not  show 
his  feelings,  however,  and  calmly  asked  : 

"  And  was  Mr.  Mansell  in  this  town  the  day  before  the 
assault  upon  his  aunt  ? " 

"  He  was." 

"  And  you  had  a  conversation  with  him  ?" 

"I  had." 

"May  I  ask  where?"  .  . 


262  HAND  AND   RING. 

For  the  first  time  she  flushed  ;  womanly  shame  had 
not  yet  vanished  entirely  from  her  stricken  breast  ;  but 
she  responded  as  steadily  as  before  : 

"In  the  woods,  sir,  back  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house. 
There  were  reasons  " — she  paused — "  there  were  good 
reasons,  which  I  do  not  feel  obliged  to  state,  why  a  meet- 
ing in  such  a  place  was  not  discreditable  to  us." 

Mr.  Ferris,  who  had  received  from  other  sources  a  full 
version  of  the  interview  to  which  she  thus  alluded,  expe- 
rienced a  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  against  one  he 
could  not  but  consider  as  a  detected  coquette  ;  and,  draw- 
ing quickly  back,  made  a  gesture  such  as  was  not  often 
witnessed  in  those  elegant  apartments. 

"You  mean,"  said  he,  with  a  sharp  edge  to  his  tone 
that  passed  over  her  dreary  soul  unheeded,  "that  you 
were  lovers  ? " 

"  I  mean,"  said  she,  like  the  automaton  she  surely  was 
at  that  moment,  "  that  he  had  paid  me  honorable  ad- 
dresses, and  that  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt  his  motives  or 
my  own  in  seeking  such  a  meeting." 

"  Miss  Dare," — all  the  District  Attorney  spoke  in  the 
manner  of  Mr.  Ferris  now, — "  if  you  refused  Mr.  Mansell 
his  ring,  you  must  have  returned  it  to  him  ? " 

She  looked  at  him  with  an  anguish  that  bespoke  her 
full  appreciation  of  all  this  question  implied,  but  un- 
equivocally bowed  her  head. 

"  It  was  in  his  possession,  then,"  he  continued,  "  when 
you  left  him  on  that  day  and  returned  to  your  home  ? " 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  263 

"Yes,"  her  lips  seemed  to  say,  though  no  distinct  ut- 
terance came  from  them. 

"  And  you  did  not  see  it  again  till  you  found  it  on 
the  floor  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  dining-room  the  morning  of 
the  murder  ? " 

"  No." 

"  Miss  Dare,"  said  he,  with  greater  mildness,  after  a 
short  pause,  **  you  have  answered  my  somewhat  painful 
inquiries  with  a  straightforwardness  I  cannot  sufficiently 
commend.  If  you  will  now  add  to  my  gratitude  by  tell- 
ing me  whether  you  have  informed  any  one  else  of  the 
important  facts  you  have  just  given  me,  I  will  distress  you 
by  no  further  questions." 

"Sir,"  said  she,  and  her  attitude  showed  that  she 
could  endure  but  little  more,  "  I  have  taken  no  one  else 
into  my  confidence.  Such  knowledge  as  I  had  to  im- 
part was  not  matter  for  idle  gossip." 

And  Mr.  Ferris,  being  thus  assured  that  his  own  sur- 
mises and  that  of  Hickory  were  correct,  bowed  with  the 
respect  her  pale  face  and  rigid  attitude  seemed  to  de- 
mand, and  considerately  left  the  house. 


264  HAND  AND   RING. 


H 


XXII. 

CRAIK    MANSELL. 
Bring  me  unto  my  trial  when  you  will. — Henry  VI. 

E  is  here." 


Mr.  Ferris  threw  aside  his  cigar,  and  looked 
up  at  Mr.  Byrd,  who  was  standing  before  him. 

"  You  had  no  difficulty,  then  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  He  acted  like  a  man  in  hourly  expectation 
of  some  such  summons.  At  the  very  first  intimation  of 
your  desire  to  see  him  in  Sibley,  he  rose  from  his  desk, 
with  what  I  thought  was  a  meaning  look  at  Mr.  Good- 
man, and  after  a  few  preparations  for  departure,  signified 
he  was  ready  to  take  the  next  train." 

"  And  did  he  ask  no  questions  ? " 

"  Only  one.  He  wished  to  know  if  I  were  a  detective. 
And  when  I  responded  *  Yes,'  observed  with  an  inquiring 
look  :  *  I  am  wanted  as  a  witness,  I  suppose.'  A  sug- 
gestion to  which  I  was  careful  to  make  no  reply." 

Mr.  Ferris  pushed  aside  his  writing  and  glanced  tow- 
ard the  door.     *'  Show  him  in,  Mr.  Byrd,"  said  he. 

A  moment  after  Mr.  Mansell  entered  the  room. 

The  District  Attorney  had  never  seen  this  man,  and  was 
struck  at  once  by  the  force  and  manliness  of  his  appear- 
ance. Half-rising  from  his  seat  to  greet  the  visitor,  he 
said: 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  265 

"  I  have  to  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Mansell.  Feeling  it 
quite  necessary  to  see  you,  I  took  the  liberty  of  request- 
ing you  to  take  this  journey,  my  own  time  being  fully 
occupied  at  present." 

Mr,  Mansell  bowed — a  slow,  self-possessed  bow, — and 
advancing  to  the  table  before  which  the  District  Attorney 
sat,  laid  his  hand  firmly  upon  it  and  said  : 

"  No  apologies  are  needed."  Then  shortly,  "  What  is 
it  you  want  of  me  ?  " 

The  words  were  almost  the  same  as  those  which 
had  been  used  by  Mr.  Hildreth  under  similar  circum- 
stances, but  how  different  was  their  effect !  The  one  was 
the  utterance  of  a  weak  man  driven  to  bay,  the  other  of 
a  strong  one.  Mr.  Ferris,  who  was  by  no  means  of  an 
impressible  organization,  flashed  a  look  of  somewhat  un- 
easy doubt  at  Mr.  Byrd,  and  hesitated  slightly  before 
proceeding. 

"  We  have  sent  for  you  in  this  friendly  way,?  here- 
marked,  at  last,  "  in  order  to  give  you  that  opportunity 
for  explaining  certain  matters  connected  with  your  aunt's 
sudden  death  which  your  well-known  character  and  good 
position  seem  to  warrant.  We  think  you  can  do  this.  At 
all  events  I  have  accorded  myself  the  privilege  of  so  sup- 
posing ;  and  any  words  you  may  have  to  say  will  meet 
with  all  due  consideration.  As  Mrs.  Clemmens'  nephew, 
you,  of  course,  desire  to  see  her  murderer  brought  to 
justice." 
The  slightly  rising  inflection    given   to    the  last  few 


266  HAND   AND    RING. 

words  made  them  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  question, 
and  Mr.  Byrd,  who  stood  near  by,  waited  anxiously  for 
the  decided  Yes  which  seemed  the  only  possible  reply  un- 
der the  circumstances,  but  it  did  not  come. 

Surprised,  and  possibly  anxious,  the  District  Attorney 
repeated  himself. 

"  As  her  nephew,"  said  he,  "  and  the  inheritor  of 
the  few  savings  she  has  left  behind  her,  you  can  have  but 
one  ^vish  on  this  subject,  Mr.  Mansell  ?" 

But  this  attempt  succeeded  no  better  than  the  first. 
Beyond  a  slight  compression  of  the  lips,  Mr.  Mansell 
gave  no  manifestation  of  having  heard  this  remark,  and 
both  Mr.  Ferris  and  the  detective  found  themselves  forced 
to  wonder  at  the  rigid  honesty  of  a  man  who,  whatever 
death-giving  blow  he  may  have  dealt,  would  not  allow 
himself  to  escape  the  prejudice  of  his  accusers  by  assent- 
ing to  a  supposition  he  and  they  knew  to  be  false 

Mr.  Ferris  did  not  press  the  question. 

"  Mr.  Mansell,"  he  remarked  instead,  "  a  person  by  the 
name  of  Gouverneur  Hildreth  is,  as  you  must  know, 
under  arrest  at  this  time,  charged  with  the  crime  of  hav- 
ing given  the  blow  that  led  to  your  aunt's  death.  The 
evidence  against  him  is  strong,  and  the  public  generally 
have  no  doubt  that  his  arrest  will  lead  to  trial,  if  not  to 
conviction.  But,  unfortunately  for  us,  however  fortu- 
nately for  him,  another  person  has  lately  been  found, 
against  whom  an  equal  show  of  evidence  can  be  raised, 
and   it    is  for  the  purpose  of   satisfying   ourselves  that 


THE  WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  26/ 

it  is  but  a  show,  we  have  requested  your  presence  here 
to-day." 

A  spasm,  vivid  as  it  was  instantaneous,  distorted  for  a 
moment  the  powerful  features  of  Craik  Mansell  at  the 
words,  "  another  person,"  but  it  was  gone  before  the 
sentence  was  completed  ;  and  when  Mr.  Ferris  ceased,  he 
looked  up  with  the  steady  calmness  which  made  his  bear- 
ing so  remarkable. 

"  I  am  waiting  to  hear  the  name  of  this  freshly 
suspected  person,"  he  observed. 

"  Cannot  you  imagine  ? "  asked  the  District  Attorney, 
coldly,  secretly  disconcerted  under  a  gaze  that  held  his 
own  with  such  steady  persistence. 

The  eyeballs  of  the  other  flashed  like  coals  of  fire. 

"I  think  it  is  my  right  to  hear  it  spoken,"  he  returned. 

This  display  of  feeling  restored  Mr.  Ferris  to  himself. 

"  In  a  moment,  sir,"  said  he.  *'  Meanwhile,  have  you 
any  objections  to  answering  a  few  questions  I  would  like 
to  put  to  you  ?  " 

*'  I  will  hear  them,"  was  the  steady  reply. 

"  You  know,"  said  the  District  Attorney,  "  you  are  at 
perfect  liberty  to  answer  or  not,  as  you  see  fit.  I  have  no 
desire  to  entrap  you  into  any  acknowledgments  you  may 
hereafter  regret." 

"  Speak,"  was  the  sole  response  he  received. 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Ferris,  "are  you  willing  to  tell  me 
where  you  where  when  you  first  heard  of  the  assault 
which  had  been  made  upon  your  aunt  ?  " 
"  I  was  in  my  place  at  the  mill." 


268  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  And — pardon  me  if  I  go  too  far — were  you  also  there 
the  morning  she  was  murdered  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Mr.  Mansell,  if  you  could  tell  us  where  you  were  at 
that  time,  it  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  us,  and  possibly 
to  yourself." 

"  To  myself  ?  " 

Having  shown  his  surprise,  or,  possibly,  his  alarm,  by 
the  repetition  of  the  other's  words,  Craik  Mansell  paused 
and  looked  slowly  around  the  room  until  he  encountered 
Mr.  Byrd's  eye.  There  was  a  steady  compassion  in  the 
look  he  met  there  that  seemed  to  strike  him  with  great 
force,  for  he  at  once  replied  that  he  was  away  from  home, 
and  stopped — his  glance  still  fixed  upon  Mr.  Byrd,  as  if, 
by  the  very  power  of  his  gaze,  he  would  force  the  secrets 
of  that  detective's  soul  to  the  surface. 

*'  Mr.  Mansell,"  pursued  the  District  Attorney,  "  a 
distinct  avowal  on  your  part  of  the  place  where  you  were 
at  that  time,  would  be  best  for  us  both,  I  am  sure." 

"  Do  you  not  already  know  ?  "  inquired  the  other,  his 
eye  still  upon  Horace  Byrd. 

"  We  have  reason  to  think  you  were  in  this  town," 
averred  Mr.  Ferris,  with  an  emphasis  calculated  to  recall 
the  attention  of  his  visitor  to  himself. 

"  And  may  I  ask,"  Craik  Mansell  quietly  said,  "  what 
reason  you  can  have  for  such  a  supposition  ?  No  one  could 
have  seen  me  here,  for,  till  to-day  I  have  not  entered  the 
streets  of  this  place  since  my  visit  to  my  aunt  three  months 
ago." 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  269 

"  It  was  not  necessary  to  enter  the  streets  of  this  town 
to  effect  a  visit  to  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house,  Mr.  Mansell." 

"  No  ? " 

There  was  the  faintest  hint  of  emotion  in  the  intona- 
tion he  gave  to  that  one  word,  but  it  vanished  before  he 
spoke  his  next  sentence. 

"  And  how,"  asked  he,  "  can  a  person  pass  from  Sibley 
Station  to  the  door  of  my  aunt's  house  without  going 
through  the  streets  ? " 

Instead  of  replying,  Mr.  Ferris  inquired  : 

"  Did  you  get  out  at  Sibley  Station,  Mr.  Mansell  ? " 

But  the  other,  with  unmoved  self-possession,  returned  : 

"  I  have  not  said  so." 

"  Mr.  Mansell,"  the  District  Attorney  now  observed, 
"  we  have  no  motive  in  deceiving  or  even  in  misleading 
you.  You  were  in  this  town  on  the  morning  of  your 
aunt's  murder,  and  you  were  even  in  her  house.  Evidence 
which  you  cannot  dispute  proves  this,  and  the  question 
that  now  arises,  and  of  whose  importance  we  leave  you  to 
judge,  is  whether  you  were  there  prior  to  the  visit  of  Mr. 
Hildreth,  or  after.  Any  proof  you  may  have  to  show  that 
it  was  before  will  receive  its  due  consideration." 

A  change,  decided  as  it  was  involuntary,  toot  place  in 
the  hitherto  undisturbed  countenance  of  Craik  Mansell. 
Leaning  forward,  he  surveyed  Mr.  Ferris  with  great  ear- 
nestness. 

"  I  asked  that  man,"  said  he,  pointing  with  a  steady 
forefinger  at  the  somewhat  abashed  detective,  "  if  I  were 


2^0  HAND   AND    RING. 

not  wanted  here  simply  as  a  witness,  and  he  did  not  say 
No.  Now,  sir,  he  continued,  turning  back  with  a  slight 
gesture  of  disdain  to  the  District  Attorney,  "  was  the  man 
right  in  allowing  me  to  believe  such  a  fact,  or  was  he  not  ? 
I  would  like  an  answer  to  my  question  before  I  proceed 
further,  if  you  please." 

"  You  shall  have  it,  Mr.  Mansell.  If  this  man  did  not 
answer  you,  it  was  probably  because  he  did  not  feel  justi- 
fied in  so  doing.  He  knew  I  had  summoned  you 
here  in  the  hope  of  receiving  such  explanations  of  your 
late  conduct  as  should  satisfy  me  you  had  nothing  to  do 
with  your  aunt's  murder.  The  claims  upon  my  consider- 
ation, which  are  held  by  certain  persons  allied  to  you  in 
this  matter  " — Mr.  Ferris'  look  was  eloquent  of  his  real 
meaning  here — "  are  my  sole  justification  for  this  some- 
what unusual  method  of  dealing  with  a  suspected 
man." 

A  smile,  bitter,  oh,  how  bitter  in  its  irony  !  traversed 
the  firm-set  lips  of  Craik  Mansell  for  a  moment,  then  he 
bowed  with  a  show  of  deference  to  the  District  Attorney, 
and  settling  into  the  attitude  of  a  man  willing  to  plead  his 
own  cause,  responded  : 

"  It  would  be  more  just,  perhaps,  if  I  first  heard  the 
reasons  you  have  for  suspecting  me,  before  I  attempt 
to  advance  arguments  to  prove  the  injustice  of  your  sus- 
picions." 

'  Well,"  said  Mr.  Ferris,  "you  shall  have  them.  If 
frankness  on  my  part  can  do  aught  to  avert  the  terrible 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  2/1 

scandal  which  your  arrest  and  its  consequent  develop- 
ments would  cause,  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice  thus  much  to 
my  friendship  for  Mr.  Orcutt.  But  if  I  do  this,  I  shall 
expect  an  equal  frankness  in  return.  The  matter  is  too 
serious  for  subterfuge." 

The  other  merely  waved  his  hand. 

"  The  reasons,"  proceeded  Mr.  Ferris,  "  for  consider- 
ing you  a  party  as  much  open  to  suspicion  as  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth,  are  several.  First,  we  have  evidence  to  prove 
your  great  desire  for  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  your  aunt's 
savings,  in  order  to  introduce  an  invention  which  you 
have  just  patented. 

"  Secondly,  we  can  show  that  you  left  your  home  in 
Buffalo  the  day  before  the  assault,  came  to  Monteith,  the 
next  town  to  this,  alighted  at  the  remote  station  assigned 
to  the  use  of  the  quarrymen,  crossed  the  hills  and 
threaded  the  woods  till  you  came  to  a  small  hut  back  of 
your  aunt's  house,  where  you  put  up  for  the  night. 

"  Thirdly,  evidence  is  not  lacking  to  prove  that  while 
there  you  visited  your  aunt's  once,  if  not  twice  ;  the  last 
time  on  the  very  morning  she  was  killed,  entering  the 
house  in  a  surreptitious  way  by  the  back  door,  and  leav- 
ing it  in  the  same  suspicious  manner. 

"  And  fourthly,  we  can  prove  that  you  escaped  from 
this  place  as  you  had  come,  secretly,  and  through  a  diffi- 
cult and  roundabout  path  over  the  hills. 

"  Mr.  Mansell,  these  facts,  taken  with  your  reticence 
concerning  a  visit  so  manifestly  of  importance   to   the 


272  HAND   AND    RING. 

authorities  to  know,  must  strike  even  you  as  offering 
grounds  for  a  suspicion  as  grave  as  that  attaching  to  Mr, 
Hildreth." 

With  a  restraint  marked  as  it  was  impressive,  Mr. 
Mansell  looked  at  the  District  Attorney  for  a  moment, 
and  then  said  : 

"  You  speak  of  proof.  Now,  what  proof  have  you  to 
give  that  I  put  up,  as  you  call  it,  for  a  night,  or  even  for 
an  hour,  in  the  hut  which  stands  in  the  woods  back  of 
my  aunt's  house  ?  " 

"  This,"  was  Mr.  Ferris'  reply.  "  It  is  known  you  were 
in  the  woods  the  afternoon  previous  to  the  assault  upon 
your  aunt,  because  you  were  seen  there  in  company  with 
a  young  lady  with  whom  you  were  holding  a  tryst.  Did 
you  speak,  sir  ?  " 

"  No  !  "  was  the  violent,  almost  disdainful,  rejoinder. 

"You  did  not  sleep  at  your  aunt's,  for  her  rooms  con- 
tained not  an  evidence  of  having  been  opened  for  a 
guest,  while  the  hut  revealed  more  than  one  trace  of  hav- 
ing been  used  as  a  dormitory.  I  could  even  tell  you 
where  you  cut  the  twigs  of  hemlock  that  served  you  for 
a  pillow,  and  point  to  the  place  where  you  sat  when  you 
scribbled  over  the  margin  of  the  Buffalo  Courier  with  a 
blue  pencil,  such  as  that  I  now  see  projecting  f'-om  your 
vest  pocket." 

"  It  is  not  necessary,"  replied  the  young  man,  heavily 
frowning.  Then  with  another  short  glance  at  Mr.  Ferris, 
he  again  demanded : 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  273 

"  What  is  your  reason  for  stating  I  visited  my  aunt's 
house  on  the  morning  she  was  murdered  ?  Did  any  one 
see  me  do  it  ?  or  does  the  house,  like  the  hut,  exhibit 
traces  of  my  presence  there  at  that  particular  time  ?  " 

There  was  irony  in  his  tone,  and  a  disdain  almost 
amounting  to  scorn  in  his  wide-flashing  blue  eyes  ;  but 
Mr.  Ferris,  glancing  at  the  hand  clutched  about  the  rail- 
ing of  the  desk,  remarked  quietly  : 

"  You  do  not  wear  the  diamond  ring  you  carried  away 
with  you  from  the  tryst  I  mentioned  ?  Can  it  be  that  the 
one  which  was  picked  up  after  the  assault,  on  the  floor  of 
Mrs.  Clemmens'  dining-room,  could  have  fallen  from  your 
finger,  Mr.  Mansell  ?  " 

A  start,  the  first  this  powerfully  repressed  man  had 
given,  showed  that  his  armor  of  resistance  had  been 
pierced  at  last. 

"  How  do  you  know,"  he  quickly  asked,  "  that  I  carried 
away  a  diamond  ring  from  the  tryst  you  speak  of  ?  " 

"  Circumstances,"  returned  the  District  Attorney, 
"  prove  it  beyond  a  doubt.     Miss  Dare " 

"  Miss  Dare  !  " 

Oh,  the  indescribable  tone  of  this  exclamation  !  Mr. 
Byrd  shuddered  as  he  .heard  it,  and  looked  at  Mr.  Mansell 
with  a  new  feeling,  for  which  he  had  no  name. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  repeated  the  District  Attorney,  without, 
apparently,  regarding  the  interruption,  "  acknowledges 
she  returned  you  the  ring  which  you  endeavored  at  that 
interview  to  bestow  upon  her." 


274  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Ah  !  "  The  word  came  after  a  moment's  pause.  "  I 
see  the  case  has  been  well  worked  up,  and  it  only  remains 
for  me  to  give  you  such  explanations  as  I  choose  to  make. 
Sir,"  declared  he,  stepping  forward,  and  bringing  his 
clenched  hand  down  upon  the  desk  at  which  Mr.  Ferris 
was  sitting,  "  I  did  not  kill  my  aunt.  I  admit  that  I  paid 
her  a  visit.  I  admit  that  I  stayed  in  the  woods  back  of  her 
house,  and  even  slept  in  the  hut,  as  you  have  said ;  but 
that  was  on  the  day  previous  to  her  murder,  and  not  after 
it.  I  went  to  see  her  for  the  purpose  of  again  urging  the 
claims  of  my  invention  upon  her.  I  went  secretly,  and 
by  the  roundabout  way  you  describe,  because  I  had 
another  purpose  in  visiting  Sibley,  which  made  it  expedi- 
ent for  me  to  conceal  my  presence  in  the  town,  I  failed 
in  my  efforts  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of  my  aunt  in  re- 
gard to  my  plans,  and  I  failed  also  in  compassing  that 
other  desire  of  my  heart  of  which  the  ring  you  mention 
was  a  token.  Both  failures  unnerved  me,  and  I  lay  in 
that  hut  all  night.  I  even  lay  there  most  of  the  next 
morning  ;  but  I  did  not  see  my  aunt  again,  and  I  did  not 
lift  my  hand  against  her  life." 

There  was  indescribable  quiet  in  the  tone,  but  there 
was  indescribable  power  also,  and  the  look  he  levelled 
upon  the  District  Attorney  was  unwaveringly  solemn  and 
hard. 

"  You  deny,  then,  that  you  entered  the  widow's  house 
on  the  morning  of  the  murder  ?  " 

"  I  do." 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  275 

"  It  is,  then,  a  question  of  veracity  between  you  and 
Miss  Dare  ?  " 

Silence. 

"  She  asserts  she  gave  you  back  the  ring  you  offered 
her.  If  this  is  so,  and  that  ring  was  in  your  possession 
after  you  left  her  on  Monday  evening,  how  came  it  to  be 
in  the  widow's  dining-room  the  next  morning,  if  you  did 
not  carry  it  there  ?  " 

"  I  can  only  repeat  my  words,"  rejoined  Mr.  Mansell. 

The  District  Attorney  replied  impatiently.  For  vari- 
ous reasons  he  did  not  wish  to  believe  this  man  guilty. 

"  You  do  not  seem  very  anxious  to  assist  me  in  my 
endeavors  to  reach  the  truth,"  he  observed.  "  Cannot 
you  tell  me  what  you  did  with  the  ring  after  you  left 
Miss  Dare  ?  Whether  you  put  it  on  your  finger,  or 
thrust  it  into  your  pocket,  or  tossed  it  into  the  marsh  ? 
If  you  did  not  carry  it  to  the  house,  some  one  else  must 
have  done  so,  and  you  ought  to  be  able  to  help  us  in 
determining  who." 

But  Mr.  Mansell  shortly  responded  : 

*'  I  have  nothing  to  say  about  the  ring.  From  the 
moment  Miss  Dare  returned  it  to  me,  as  you  say,  it  was, 
so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  a  thing  forgotten.  I  do  not 
know  as  I  should  ever  have  thought  of  it  again,  if  you 
had  not  mentioned  it  to  me  to-day.  How  it  vanished 
from  my  possession  only  to  reappear  upon  the  scene  of 
murder,  some  more  clever  conjurer  than  myself  must 
explain." 


2']6  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  And  this  is  all  you  have  to  say,  Mr.  Mansell  ? " 

"  This  is  all  I  have  to  say." 

"  Byrd,"  suggested  the  District  Attorney,  after  a  long 
pause,  during  which  the  subject  of  his  suspicions  had 
stood  before  him  as  rigid  and  inscrutable  as  a  statue  in 
bronze,  "  Mr.  Mansell  would  probably  like  to  go  to  the 
hotel,  unless,  indeed,  he  desires  to  return  immediately  to 
Buffalo." 

Craik  Mansell  at  once  started  forward. 

"  Do  you  intend  to  allow  me  to  return  to  Buffalo  ? " 
he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  District  Attorney's  reply. 

"  You  are  a  good  man,"  broke  involuntarily  from  the 
other's  lips,  and  he  impulsively  reached  out  his  hand, 
but  as  quickly  drew  it  back  with  a  flush  of  pride  that 
greatly  became  him. 

"  I  do  not  say,"  quoth  Mr.  Ferris,  "  that  I  exempt  you. 
from  surveillance.     As  prosecuting  attorney  of  this  dis- 
trict, my  duty  is  to  seek  out  and  discover  the  man  who 
murdered   Mrs.  Clemmens,  and   your  explanations  have 
not  been  as  full  or  as  satisfactory  as  I  could  wish." 

"  Your  men  will  always  find  me  at  my  desk  in  the 
mill,"  said  Mr.  Mansell,  coldly.  And,  with  another 
short  bow,  he  left  the  attorney's  side  and  went  quickly 
out. 

"  That  man  is  innocent,"  declared  Mr.  Ferris,  as 
Horace  Byrd  leaned  above  him  in  expectation  of  in- 
structions   to    keep    watch    over    the    departing   visitor. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  277 

"  The  way  in  which  he  held  out  his  hand  to  me  spoke 
volumes." 

The  detective  cast  a  sad  glance  at  Craik  Mansell's 
retreating  figure. 

"You  could  not  convince  Hickory  of  that  fact," 
said  he. 


278  HAND  AND   RING. 


XXIII. 

MR.    ORCUTT. 

What  is  it  she  does  now  ?— Macbeth. 

My  resolution  's  plac'd,  and  I  have  nothing 
Of  woman  in  me.  Now,  from  head  to  foot 
I  am  marble — constant. — Antony  and  Cleopatra. 

THESE  words  rang  in  the  ears  of  Mr.  Ferris.  For 
he  felt  himself  disturbed  by  them.  Hickory 
did  not  believe  Mr.  Mansell  innocent. 

At  last  he  sent  for  that  detective. 

"Hickory,"  he  asked,  "why  do  you  think  Mansell, 
•rather  than  Hildreth,  committed  this  crime?" 

Now  this  query,  on  the  part  of  the  District  Attorney, 
put  Hickory  into  a  quandary.  He  wished  to  keep  his 
promise  to  Horace  Byrd,  and  yet  he  greatly  desired  to 
answer  his  employer's  question  truthfully.  Without  any 
special  sympathies  of  his  own,  he  yet  had  an  undeniable 
leaning  toward  justice,  and  justice  certainly  demanded 
the  indictment  of  Mansell.  He  ended  by  compromising 
matters. 

"Mr.  Ferris,"  said  he,  "when  you  went  to  see  Miss 
Dare  the  other  day,  what  did  you   think  of  her  state  of 

mind  ?" 

"  That  it  was  a  very  unhappy  one." 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  279 

"  Did  n't  you  think  more  than  that,  sir  ?  Did  n't  you 
think  she  believed  Mr.  Mansell  guilty  of  this  crime  ?  " 

"Yes,"  admitted  the  other,  with  reluctance. 

"  If  Miss  Dare  is  attached  to  Mr.  Mansell,  she  must 
feel  certain  of  his  guilt  to  offer  testimony  against  him. 
Her  belief  should  go  for  something,  sir  ;  for  much,  it 
strikes  me,  when  you  consider  what  a  woman  she  is." 

This  conversation  increased  Mr.  Ferris'  uneasiness. 
Much  as  he  wished  to  spare  the  feelings  of  Miss  Dare, 
and,  through  her,  those  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Orcutt,  the 
conviction  of  Mansell's  criminality  was  slowly  gaining 
ground  in  his  mind.  He  remembered  the  peculiar  man- 
ner of  the  latter  during  the  interview  they  had  held 
together  ;  his  quiet  acceptance  of  the  position  of  a  sus- 
pected man,  and  his  marked  reticence  in  regard  to  the 
ring.  Though  the  delicate  nature  of  the  interests  in- 
volved might  be  sufficient  to  explain  his  behavior  in  the 
latter  regard,  his  whole  conduct  could  not  be  said  to  be 
that  of  a  disinterested  man,  even  if  it  were  not  necessarily 
that  of  a  guilty  one.  In  whatever  way  Mr.  Ferris  looked 
at  it,  he  could  come  to  but  one  conclusion,  and  that  was, 
that  justice  to  Hildreth  called  for  such  official  attention 
to  the  evidence  which  had  been  collected  against  Mansell 
as  should  secure  the  indictment  of  that  man  against 
whom  could  be  brought  the  more  convincing  proof  of 
guilt. 

Not  that  Mr.  Ferris  meant,  or  in  anywise  considered  it 
good  policy,  to  have  Mansell  arrested  at  this  time.     As 


28o  HAND   AND    RING. 

the  friend  of  Mr.  Orcutt,  it  was  manifestly  advisable  for 
him  to  present  whatever  evidence  he  possessed  against 
Mansell  directly  to  the  Grand  Jury.  For  in  this  way  he 
would  not  only  save  the  lawyer  from  the  pain  and  humili- 
ation of  seeing  the  woman  he  so  much  loved  called  up  as 
a  witness  against  the  man  who  had  successfully  rivalled 
him  in  her  affections,  but  would  run  the  chance,  at  least, 
of  eventually  preserving  from  open  knowledge,  the  vari- 
ous details,  if  not  the  actual  facts,  which  had  led  to  this 
person  being  suspected  of  crime.  For  the  Grand  Jury  is 
a  body  whose  business  it  is  to  make  secret  inquisition  into 
criminal  offences.  Its  members  are  bound  by  oath  to 
the  privacy  of  their  deliberations.  If,  therefore,  they 
should  find  the  proofs  presented  to  them  by  the  District 
Attorney  insufficient  to  authorize  an  indictment  against 
Mansell,  nothing  of  their  proceedings  would  transpire. 
While,  on  the  contrary,  if  they  decided  that  the  evidence 
was  such  as  to  oblige  them  to  indict  Mansell  instead  of 
Hildreth,  neither  Mr.  Orcutt  nor  Miss  Dare  could  hold 
the  District  Attorney  accountable  for  the  exposures  that 
must  follow. 

The  course,  therefore,  of  Mr.  Ferris  was  determined 
upon.  All  the  evidence  in  his  possession  against  both 
parties,  together  with  the  verdict  of  the  coroner's  jury, 
should  go  at  once  before  the  Grand  Jury  ;  Mansell,  in  the 
meantime,  being  so  watched  that  a  bench-warrant  issuing 
upon  the  indictment  would  have  him  safely  in  custody  at 
any  moment. 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  28 1 

But  this  plan  for  saving  Mr.  Orcutt's  feelings  did  not 
succeed  as  fully  as  Mr.  Ferris  hoped.  By  some  means  or 
other  the  rumor  got  abroad  that  another  man  than  Hil- 
dreth  had  fallen  under  the  suspicion  of  the  authorities, 
and  one  day  Mr.  Ferris  found  himself  stopped  on  the 
street  by  the  very  person  he  had  for  a  week  been  en- 
deavoring to  avoid. 

"  Mr.  Orcutt  !  "  he  cried,  "  how  do  you  do  ?  I  did  not 
recognize  you  at  first." 

"  No  ?  "  was  the  sharp  rejoinder.  "  I  'm  not  myself 
nowadays.  I  have  a  bad  cold."  With  which  impatient 
explanation  he  seized  Mr.  Ferris  by  the  arm  and  said  : 
"  But  what  is  this  I  hear  ?  You  have  your  eye  on  another 
party  suspected  of  being  Mrs.  Clemmens'  murderer  ?  " 

The  District  Attorney  bowed  uneasily.  He  had  hoped 
to  escape  the  discussion  of  this  subject  with  Mr.  Orcutt. 

The  lawyer  observed  the  embarrassment  his  question 
had  caused,  and  instantly  turned  pale,  notwithstanding 
the  hardihood  which  a  long  career  at  the  bar  had  given 
him. 

"  Ferris,"  he  pursued,  in  a  voice  he  strove  hard  to 
keep  steady,  "  we  have  always  been  good  friends,  in  spite 
of  the  many  tilts  we  have  had  together  before  the  court. 
Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  inform  me  if  your  suspicions 
are  founded  upon  evidence  collected  by  yourself,  or  at 
the  instigation  of  parties  professing  to  know  more  about 
this  murder  than  they  have  hitherto  revealed  .''  " 

Mr.  Ferris  could  not  fail  to  understand  the  true  nature 


282  HAND   AND    RING. 

of  this  question,  and  out  of  pure  friendship  answered 
quietly  : 

"  I  have  allowed  myself  to  look  with  suspicion  upon 
this  Mansell — for  it  is  Mrs.  Clemmens'  nephew  who  is  at 
present  occupying  our  attention, — because  the  facts  which 
have  come  to  light  in  his  regard  are  as  criminating  in 
their  nature  as  those  which  have  transpired  in  reference 
to  Mr.  Hildreth.  The  examination  into  this  matter, 
which  my  duty  requires,  has  been  any  thing  but  pleasant 
to  me,  Mr.  Orcutt.  The  evidence  of  such  witnesses  as 
will  have  to  be  summoned  before  the  Grand  Jury,  is 
of  a  character  to  bring  open  humiliation,  if  not  secret 
grief,  upon  persons  for  whom  I  entertain  the  highest 
esteem." 

The  pointed  way  in  which  this  was  said  convinced 
Mr.  Orcutt  that  his  worst  fears  had  been  realized. 
Turning  partly  away,  but  not  losing  his  hold  upon 
the  other's  arm,  he  observed  with  what  quietness  he 
could  : 

"  You  say  that  so  strangely,  I  feel  forced  to  put 
another  question  to  you.  If  what  I  have  to  ask  strikes 
you  with  any  surprise,  remember  that  my  own  astonish- 
ment and  perplexity  at  being  constrained  to  interrogate 
you  in  this  way,  are  greater  than  any  sensation  you  can 
yourself  experience.  What  I  desire  to  know  is  this. 
Among  the  witnesses  you  have  collected  against  this 
last  suspected  party,  there  are  some  women,  are  there 
not?" 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  283 

The  District  Attorney  gravely  bowed. 

"  Ferris,  is  Miss  Dare  amongst  them  ?  " 

"  Orcutt,  she  is." 

With  a  look  that  expressed  his  secret  mistrust  the 
lawyer  gave  way  to  a  sudden  burst  of  feeling. 

"  Ferris,"  he  wrathfully  acknowledged,  "  I  may  be  a 
fool,  but  I  don't  see  what  she  can  have  to  say  on  this 
subject.     It  is  impossible  she    should  know  any  thing 

about  the  murder  ;  and,  as  for  this  Mansell "     He 

made  a  violent  gesture  with  his  hand,  as  if  the  very  idea 
of  her  having  any  acquaintance  with  the  nephew  of  Mrs. 
Clemmens  were  simply  preposterous. 

The  District  Attorney,  who  saw  from  this  how  utterly 
ignorant  the  other  was  concerning  Miss  Dare's  relations 
to  the  person  named,  felt  his  embarrassment  increase. 

"  Mr.  Orcutt,"  he  replied,  "  strange  as  it  may  appear 
to  you.  Miss  Dare  ^as  testimony  to  give  of  value  to  the 
prosecution,  or  she  would  not  be  reckoned  among  its 
witnesses.  What  that  testimony  is,  I  must  leave  to  her 
discretion  to  make  known  to  you,  as  she  doubtless  will, 
if  you  question  her  with  sufficient  consideration.  I 
never  forestall  matters  myself,  nor  would  you  wish  me  to 
tell  you  what  would  more  becomingly  come  from  her 
own  lips.  But,  Mr.  Orcutt,  this  1  can  say  :  that  if  it  had 
been  given  me  to  choose  between  the  two  alternatives  of 
resigning  my  office  and  of  pursuing  an  inquiry  which 
obliges  me  to  submit  to  the  unpleasantness  of  a  judicial 
investigation  a  person  held  in  so  much  regard  by  your- 


284  HAND   AND    RING. 

self,  I  would  have  given  up  my  office  with  pleasure,  so 
keenly  do  I  feel  the  embarrassment  of  my  position  and 
the  unhappiness  of  yours.  But  any  mere  resignation  on 
my  part  would  have  availed  nothing  to  save  Miss  Dare 
from  appearing  before  the  Grand  Jury.  The  evidence 
she  has  to  give  in  this  matter  makes  the  case  against 
Mansell  as  strong  as  that  against  Hildreth,  and  it  would 
be  the  duty  of  any  public  prosecutor  to  recognize  the 
fact  and  act  accordingly." 

Mr.  Orcutt,  who  had  by  the  greatest  effort  succeeded 
in  calming  himself  through  this  harangue,  flashed  sarcas- 
tically at  this  last  remark,  and  surveyed  Mr.  Ferris  with 
a  peculiar  look. 

"  Are  you  sure,"  he  inquired  in  a  slow,  ironical  tone, 
"  that  she  has  not  succeeded  in  making  it  stronger  ?  " 

The  look,  the  tone,  were  unexpected,  and  greatly 
startled  Mr.  Ferris.  Drawing  nearer  to  his  friend,  he 
returned  his  gaze  with  marked  earnestness. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  he  asked,  with  secret  anxiety. 

But  the  wary  lawyer  had  already  repented  this  unwise 
betrayal  of  his  own  doubts.  Meeting  his  companion's 
eye  with  a  calmness  that  amazed  himself,  he  remarked, 
instead  of  answering  : 

"  It  was  through  Miss  Dare,  then,  that  your  attention 
was  first  drawn  to  Mrs.  Clemmens'  nephew  ?  " 

"  No,"  disclaimed  Mr.  Ferris,  hastily.  "  The  detec- 
tives already  had  their  eyes  upon  him.  But  a  hint  from 
her  went  far  toward  determining  me  upon  pursuing  the 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  285 

matter,"  he   allowed,  seeing  that  his  friend  was  deter- 
mined upon  hearing  the  truth. 

"So  then,"  observed  the  other,  with  a  stern  dryness 
that  recalled  his  manner  at  the  bar,  "  she  opened  a  com- 
munication with  you  herself  ?  " 

"Yes." 

It  was  enough.  Mr.  Orcutt  dropped  the  arm  of  Mr. 
Ferris,  and,  with  his  usual  hasty  bow,  turned  shortly 
away.  The  revelation  which  he  believed  himself  to  have 
received  in  this  otherwise  far  from  satisfactory  interview, 
was  one  that  he  could  not  afford  to  share — that  is,  not 
yet  ;  not  while  any  hope  remained  that  circumstances 
would  so  arrange  themselves  as  to  make  it  unnecessary 
for  him  to  do  so.  If  Imogene  Dare,  out  of  her  insane  de- 
sire to  free  Gouverneur  Hildreth  from  the  suspicion  that 
oppressed  him,  had  resorted  to  perjury  and  invented  evi- 
dence tending  to  show  the  guilt  of  another  party — and 
remem.bering  her  admissions  at  their  last  interview  and 
the  language  she  had  used  in  her  letter  of  farewell,  no 
other  conclusion  offered  itself, — what  alternative  was  left 
him  but  to  wait  till  he  had  seen  her  before  he  proceeded 
to  an  interference  that  would  separate  her  from  himself 
by  a  gulf  still  greater  than  that  which  already  existed  be- 
tween them  ?  To  be  sure,  the  jealousy  which  consumed 
him,  the  passionate  rage  that  seized  his  whole  being  when 
he  thought  of  all  she  dared  do  for  the  man  she  loved, 
or  that  he  thought  she  loved,  counselled  him  to  nip  this 
attempt  of  hers  in  the  bud,  and  by  means  of  a  word  to  Mr. 


286  HAND   AND    RING. 

Ferris  throw  such  a  doubt  upon  her  veracity  as  a  witness 
against  this  new  party  as  should  greatly  influence  the  ac- 
tion of  the  former  in  the  critical  business  he  had  in  hand. 
But  Mr.  Orcutt,  while  a  prey  to  unwonted  passions,  had 
not  yet  lost  control  of  his   reason,  and  reason   told  him 
that  impulse  was  an  unsafe  guide  for  him  to  follow  at  this 
time.     Thought  alone — deep  and  concentrated  thought — 
would  help  him  out  of  this  crisis  with  honor  and  safety. 
But  thought  would  not  come  at  call.     In   all  his  quick 
walk  home  but  one  mad  sentence  formulated  itself  in  his 
brain,  and  that  was  :  "  She  loves  him  so,  she  is  willing  to 
perjure  herself  for  his  sake  !  "     Nor,  though  he  entered 
his  door  with  his  usual  bustling  air  and  went  through  all 
the  customary  observances  of  the  hour  with  an  appear- 
ance of  no  greater  abstraction  and  gloom  than  had  char- 
acterized him  ever  since  the  departure  of  Miss  Dare,  no 
other  idea  obtruded  itself  upon  his  mind  than  this  :  "She 
loves   him   so,  she   is  willing  to  perjure   herself  for  his 
sake  ! " 

Even  the  sight  of  his  books,  his  papers,  and  all  that 
various  paraphernalia  of  work  and  study  which  gives 
character  to  a  lawyer's  library,  was  insufficient  to  restore 
his  mind  to  its  usual  condition  of  calm  thought  and  ac- 
curate judgment.  Not  till  the  clock  struck  eight  and  he 
found  himself  almost  without  his  own  volition  at  Profes- 
sor Darling's  house,  did  he  realize  all  the  difficulties  of 
his  position  and  the  almost  intolerable  nature  of  the 
undertaking  which  had  been  forced  upon  him  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  situation. 


THE  WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  287 

Miss  Dare,  who  had  refused  to  see  him  at  first,  came 
into  his  presence  with  an  expression  that  showed  him  with 
what  reluctance  she  had  finally  responded  to  his  per- 
emptory message.  But  in  the  few  heavy  moments  he  had 
been  obliged  to  wait,  he  had  schooled  himself  to  expect 
coldness  if  not  absolute  rebuff.  He  therefore  took  no 
heed  of  the  haughty  air  of  inquiry  which  she  turned  upon 
him,  but  came  at  once  to  the  point,  saying  almost  be- 
fore she  had  closed  the  door  : 

"What  is  this  you  have  been  doing,  Imogene  ?" 
A  flush,    such  as  glints   across  the   face    of  a  marble 
statue,  visited  for  a  moment  the  still  whiteness  of  her  set 
features,  then  she  replied  : 

"  Mr.  Orcutt,  when  I  left  your  house  I  told  you  I  had 
a  wretched  and  unhappy  duty  to  perform,  that,  when 
once  accomplished,  would  separate  us  forever.  I  have 
done  it,  and  the  separation  has  come  ;  why  attempt  to 
bridge  it  ? " 

There  was  a  sad  weariness  in  her  tone,  a  sad  weariness 
in  her  face,  but  he  seemed  to  recognize  neither.  The 
demon  jealousy — that  hindrance  to  all  unselfish  feeling — 
had  gripped  him  again,  and  the  words  that  came  to  his 
lips  were  at  once  bitter  and  masterful. 

"  Imogene,"  he  cried,  with  as  much  wrath  in  his  tone 
as  he  had  ever  betrayed  in  her  presence,  "  you  do  not 
answer  my  question.  I  ask  you  what  you  have  been 
doing,  and  you  reply,  your  duty.  Now,  what  do  you 
mean  by   duty  ?     Tell  me  at  once  and  distinctly,  for  I 


288  HAND  AND   RING. 

will  no  longer  be  put  off  by  any  roundabout  phrases  con- 
cerning a  matter  of  such  vital  importance." 

"  Tell  you  ? "  This  repetition  of  his  words  had  a 
world  of  secret  anguish  in  it  which  he  could  not  help  but 
notice.  She  did  not  succumb  to  it,  however,  but  con- 
tinued in  another  moment  :  "  You  said  to  me,  in  the  last 
conversation  we  held  together,  that  Gouverneur  Hildreth 
could  not  be  released  from  his  terrible  position  without  a 
distinct  proof  of  innocence  or  the  advancement  of  such 
evidence  against  another  as  should  turn  suspicion  aside 
from  him  into  a  new  and  more  justifiable  quarter.  I 
could  not,  any  more  than  he,  give  a  distinct  proof  of  his 
innocence ;  but  I  could  furnish  the  authorities  with  testi- 
mony calculated  to  arouse  suspicion  in  a  fresh  direction, 
and  I  did  it.  For  Gouverneur  Hildreth  had  to  be  saved 
at  any  price — at  arty  priced 

The  desparing  emphasis  she  laid  upon  the  last  phrase 
went  like  hot  steel  to  Mr.  Orcutt's  heart,  and  made  his 
eyes  blaze  with  almost  uncontrollable  passion, 

"  ye  ne  vois  pas  la  necessite"  said  he,  in  that  low,  re- 
strained tone  of  bitter  sarcasm  which  made  his  invective 
so  dreaded  by  opposing  counsel.  "  If  Gouverneur  Hil- 
dreth finds  himself  in  an  unfortunate  position,  he  has 
only  his  own  follies  and  inordinate  desire  for  this  woman's 
death  to  thank  for  it.  Because  you  love  him  and  com- 
passionate him  beyond  all  measure,  that  is  no  reason  why 
you  should  perjure  yourself,  and, throw  the  burden  of  his 
shame  upon  a  man  as  innocent  as  Mr.  Mansell." 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  289 

But  this  tone,  though  it  had  made  many  a  witness  quail 
before  it,  neither  awed  nor  intimidated  her. 

"  You — you  do  not  understand,"  came  from  her  white 
lips.     "  It  is  Mr.  Hildreth  who  is  perfectly  innocent,  and 

not "     But   here   she  paused.     "  You  will  excuse  me 

from  saying  more,"  she  said.  "  You,  as  a  lawyer,  ought 
to  know  that  I  should  not  be  compelled  to  speak  on  a 
subject  like  this  except  under  oath." 

"  Imogene  !  "  A  change  had  passed  over  Mr.  Orcutt. 
"  Imogene,  do  you  mean  to  afifirm  that  you  really  have 
charges  to  make  against  Craik  Mansell ;  that  this  evidence 
you  propose  to  give  is  real,  and  not  manufactured  for  the 
purpose  of  leading  suspicion  aside  from  Hildreth  ?  " 

It  was  an  insinuation  against  her  veracity  he  never 
could  have  made,  or  she  have  listened  to,  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore ;  but  the  shield  of  her  pride  was  broken  between 
them,  and  neither  he  nor  she  seemed  to  give  any  thought 
to  the  reproach  conveyed  in  these  words. 

"  What  I  have  to  say  is  the  truth,"  she  murmured. 
"I  have  not  manufactured  any  thing." 

With  an  astonishment  he  took  no  pains  to  conceal,  Mr. 
Orcutt  anxiously  surveyed  her.  He  could  not  believe 
this  was  so,  yet  how  could  he  convict  her  of  falsehood  in 
face  of  that  suffering  expression  of  resolve  which  she 
wore.     His  methods  as  a  lawyer  came  to  his  relief. 

"  Imogene,"  he  slowly  responded,  "if,  as  you  say,  you 
are  in  possession  of  positive  evidence  against  this  Mansell, 
how  comes  it  that  you  jeopardized  the  interests  of  the 


290  HAND   AND   RING. 

man  you  loved  by  so  long  withholding  your  testi- 
mony ?  " 

But  instead  of  the  flush  of  confusion  which  he  ex- 
pected, she  flashed  upon  him  with  a  sudden  revelation  of 
feeling  that  made  him  involuntarily  start. 

•'  Shall  I  tell  you  ?  "  she  replied.  "  You  will  have  to 
know  some  time,  and  why  not  now  ?  I  kept  back  the 
truth,"  she  replied,  advancing  a  step,  but  without  raising 
her  eyes  to  his,  "  because  it  is  not  the  aspersed  Hildreth 
that  I  love,  but " 

Why  did  she  pause  ?  What  was  it  she  found  so  hard 
to  speak  ?    Mr.  Orcutt's  expression  became  terrible. 

"But  the  other,"  she  murmured  at  last. 

"  The  other  !  " 

It  was  now  her  turn  to  start  and  look  at  him  in  sur- 
prise, if  not  in  some  fear. 

"  What  other  ? "  he  cried,  seizing  her  by  the  hand. 
"  Name  him.  I  will  have  no  further  misunderstanding 
between  us." 

"  Is  it  necessary  ?  "  she  asked,  with  bitterness,  "  Will 
Heaven  spare  me  nothing  ?  "  Then,  as  she  saw  no  re- 
lenting in  the  fixed  gaze  that  held  her  own,  whispered,  in 
a  hollow  tone:  "You  have  just  spoken  the  name  yourself 
— Craik  Mansell." 

"Ah  !" 

Incredulity,  anger,  perplexity,  all  the  emotions  that 
were  seething  in  this  man's  troubled  soul,  spoke  in  that 
simple  exclamation.     Then  silence  settled  upon  the  room. 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  29I 

during  which  she  gained  control  over  herself,  and  he  the 
semblance  of  it  if  no  more.     She  was  the  first  to  speak, 

"I  know,"  said  she,  "that  this  avowal  on  my  part 
seems  almost  incredible  to  you  ;  but  it  is  no  more  so  than 
that  which  you  so  readily  received  from  me  the  other  day 
in  reference  to  Gouverneur  Hildreth.  A  woman  who 
spends  a  month  away  from  home  makes  acquaintances 
which   she  does  not  always   mention   when    she   comes 

back.     I  saw  Mr.  Mansell  in  Buffalo,  and "  turning, 

she  confronted  the  lawyer  with  her  large  gray  eyes,  in 
which  a  fire  burned  such  as  he  had  never  seen  there 
before — "and  grew  to  esteem  him,"  she  went  on.  "  For 
the  first  time  in  my  life  I  found  myself  in  the  presence  of 
a  man  whose  nature  commanded  mine.  His  ambition, 
his  determination,  his  unconventional  and  forcible  char- 
acter woke  aspirations  within  me  such  as  I  had  never 
known  myself  capable  of  before.  Life,  which  had 
stretched  out  before  me  with  a  somewhat  monotonous 
outlook,  changed  to  a  panorama  of  varied  and  wonderful 
experiences,  as  I  listened  to  his  voice  and  met  the  glance 
of  his  eye  ;  and  soon,  before  he  knew  it,  and  certainly 
before  I  realized  it,  words  of  love  passed  between  us,  and 

the  agony  of  that  struggle  began  which  has  ended 

Ah,  let  me  not  think  how,  or  I  shall  go  mad  ! " 

Mr.  Orcutt,  who  had  watched  her  with  a  lover's  fas- 
cination during  all  this  attempted  explanation,  shivered 
for  a  moment  at  this  last  bitter  cry  of  love  and  despair, 
but  spoke  up  when  he  did  speak,  with  a  coldness  that 
verged  on  severity. 


292  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  So  you  loved  another  man  when  you  came  back  to 
my  home  and  listened  to  the  words  of  passion  which 
came  from  7ny  lips,  and  the  hopes  of  future  bliss  and 
happiness  that  welled  up  from  my  heart  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  she  whispered,  "  and,  as  you  will  remember,  I 
tried  to  suppress  those  hopes  and  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  those 
words,  though  I  had  but  little  prospect  of  marrying  a 
man  whose  fortunes  depended  upon  the  success  of  an  in- 
vention he  could  persuade  no  one  to  believe  in." 

"  Yet  you  brought  yourself  to  listen  to  those  hopes  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  murder,"  he  suggested,  ironically. 

"  Can  you  blame  me  for  that  ?  "  she  cried,  "  remember- 
ing how  you  pleaded,  and  what  a  revulsion  of  feeling  I 
was  laboring  under  ?  " 

A  smile  bitter  as  the  fate  which  loomed  before  him, 
and  scornful  as  the  feelings  that  secretly  agitated  his 
breast,  parted  Mr.  Orcutt's  pale  lips  for  an  instant,  and 
he  seemed  about  to  give  utterance  to  some  passionate  re- 
joinder, but  he  subdued  himself  with  a  determined  effort, 
and  quietly  waiting  till  his  voice  was  under  full  control, 
remarked  with  lawyer-like  brevity  at  last : 

"  You  have  not  told  me  what  evidence  you  have  to 
give  against  young  Mansell  ?  " 

Her  answer  came  with  equal  brevity  if  not  equal 
quietness. 

"  No  ;  I  have  told  Mr.  Ferris  ;  is  not  that  enough  ?  " 

But  he  did  not  consider  it  so.  "  Ferris  is  a  District 
Attorney,"  said  he,  "  and  has  demanded  your  confidence 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  293 

for  the  purposes  of  justice,  while  I  am  your  friend.  The 
action  you  have  taken  is  peculiar,  and  you  may  need 
advice.  But  how  can  I  give  it  or  how  can  you  receive  it 
unless  there  is  a  complete  understanding  between  us  ? " 

Struck  in  spite  of  herself,  moved  perhaps  by  a  hope  she 
had  not  allowed  herself  to  contemplate  before,  she  looked 
at  him  long  and  earnestly. 

"  And  do  you  really  wish  to  help  me  ?  "  she  inquired. 
"  Are  you  so  generous  as  to  forgive  the  pain,  and  possi- 
bly the  humiliation,  I  have  inflicted  upon  you,  and  lend 
me  your  assistance  in  case  my  testimony  works  its  due 
effect,  and  he  be  brought  to  trial  instead  of  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth  ? " 

It  was  a  searching  and  a  pregnant  question,  for  which 
Mr.  Orcutt  was  possibly  not  fully  prepared,  but  his  newly 
gained  control  did  not  give  way. 

"  I  must  insist  upon  hearing  the  facts  before  I  say  any 
thing  of  my  intentions,"  he  averred.  "Whatever  they 
may  be,  they  cannot  be  mOiC  startling  in  their  character 
than  those  which  have  been  urged  against  Hildreth." 

"  But  they  are,"  she  whispered.  Then  with  a  quick 
look  around  her,  she  put  her  mouth  close  to  Mr.  Orcutt's 
ear  and  breathed  : 

"  Mr.  Hildreth  is  not  the  only  man  who,  unseen  by  the 
neighbors,  visited  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  on  the  morning 
of  the  murder.     Craik  Mansell  was  there  also." 

"  Craik  Mansell  !  How  do  you  know  that  ?  Ah,"  he 
pursued,  with  the  scornful  intonation  of  a  jealous  man, 
"  I  forgot  that  you  are  lovers." 


294  HAND  AND   RING. 

The  sneer,  natural  as  it  was,  perhaps,  seemed  to  go  to 
her  heart  and  wake  its  fiercest  indignation. 

"  Hush,"  cried  she,  towering  upon  him  with  an  omi- 
nous flash  of  her  proud  eye.  "  Do  not  turn  the  knife  in 
that  wound  or  you  will  seal  my  lips  forever."  And  she 
moved  hastily  away  from  his  side.  But  in  another  in- 
stant she  determinedly  returned,  saying  :  "  This  is  no 
time  for  indulging  in  one's  sensibilities.  I  affirm  that 
Craik  Mansell  visited  his  aunt  on  that  day,  because  the 
ring  which  was  picked  up  on  the  floor  of  her  dining-room 
— you  remember  the  ring,  Mr.  Orcutt?" 

Remember  it  !  Did  he  not  ?  All  his  many  perplexities 
in  its  regard  crowded  upon  him  as  he  made  a  hurried  bow 
of  acquiescence. 

"  It  belonged  to  him,"  she  continued.  "  He  had 
bought  it  for  me,  or,  rather,  had  had  the  diamond  reset 
for  me — it  had  been  his  mother's.  Only  the  day  before, 
he  had  tried  to  put  it  on  my  finger  in  a  meeting  we  had 
in  the  woods  back  of  his  aunt's  house.  But  I  refused  to 
allow  him.  The  prospect  ahead  was  too  dismal  and  un- 
relenting for  us  to  betroth  ourselves,  whatever  our  hopes 
or  wishes  might  be." 

*'  You-:-you  had  a  meeting  with  this  man  in  the  woods 
the  day  before  his  aunt  was  assaulted,"  echoed  Mr.  Or- 
cutt, turning  upon  her  with  an  amazement  that  swallowed 
up  his  wrath. 

"Yes." 

"  And  he  afterward  visited  her  house  ?" 


THE   WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  295 

«Yes." 

"  And  dropped  that  ring  there  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

Starting  slowly,  as  if  the  thoughts  roused  by  this  short 
statement  of  facts  were  such  as  demanded  instant  con- 
sideration, Mr.  Orcutt  walked  to  the  other  side  of  the 
room,  where  he  paced  up  and  down  in  silence  for  some 
minutes.  When  he  returned  it  was  the  lawyer  instead  of 
the  lover  who  stood  before  her. 

"  Then,  it  was  the  simple  fact  of  finding  this  gentle- 
man's ring  on  the  floor  of  Mrs,  Clemmens'  dining-room 
that  makes  you  consider  him  the  murderer  of  his  aunt  ?  " 
he  asked,  with  a  tinge  of  something  like  irony  in  his 
tone. 

"  No,"  she  breathed  rather  than  answered.  "  That 
was  a  proof,  of  course,  that  he  had  been  there,  but  I 
should  never  have  thought  of  it  as  an  evidence  of  guilt 
if  the  woman  herself  had  not  uttered,  in  our  hearing 
that  tell-tale  exclamation  of  '  Ring  and  Hand,'  and  if,  in 
the  talk  I  held  with  Mr.  Mansell  the  day  before,  he  had 
not  betrayed Why  do  you  stop  me  ?  "  she  whis- 
pered. 

"  I  did  not  stop  you,"  he  hastily  assured  her.  "  I  am 
too  anxious  to  hear  what  you  have  to  say.  Go  on,  Imo- 
gene.  What  did  this  Mansell  betray?  I— I  ask  as  a 
father  might,"  he  added,  with  some  dignity  and  no  little 
effort. 

But  her  fears  had  taken  alarm,  or  her  caution  been 
aroused,  and  she  merely  said  : 


296  HAND   AND   RING. 

"The  five  thousand  dollars  which  his  aunt  leaves  him 
is  just  the  amount  he  desired  to  start  him  in  life." 
"  Did  he  wish  such  an  amount  ?  "  Mr.  Orcutt  asked. 
*'  Very  much." 
"  And  acknowledged  it  in  the  conversation  he  had  with 


you 


?" 


"  Yes." 

"Imogene,"  declared  the  lawyer,  "  if  you  do  not  want 
to  insure  Mr.  Mansell's  indictment,  I  would  suggest  to 
you  not  to  lay  too  great  stress  upon  any  talk  you  may 
have  held  with  him." 

But  she  cried  with  unmoved  sternness,  and  a  relentless 
crushing  down  of  all  emotion  that  was  at  once  amazing 
and  painful  to  see  : 

"  The  innocent  is  to  be  saved  from  the  gallows,  no 
matter  what  the  fate  of  the  guilty  may  be." 

And  a  short  but  agitated  silence  followed  which  Mr. 
Orcutt  broke  at  last  by  saying  : 

"  Are  these  all  the  facts  you  have  to  give  me  ? " 

She  started,  cast  him  a  quick  look,  bowed  her  head, 
and  replied  : 

"Yes." 

There  was  something  in  the  tone  of  this  assertion  that 
made  him  repeat  his  question, 

"  Are  these  all  the  facts  you  have  to  give  me  ?  " 

Her  answer  came  ringing  and  emphatic  now. 

"  Yes,"  she  avowed — "  all." 

With  a  look  of  relief,   slowly  smoothing  out  the  deep 


THE   WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  297 

furrows  of  his  brow,  Mr.  Orcutt,  for  the  second  time, 
walked  thoughtfully  away  in  evident  consultation  with  his 
own  thoughts.  This  time  he  was  gone  so  long,  the  sus- 
pense became  almost  intolerable  to  Imogene.  Feeling 
that  she  could  endure  it  no  longer,  she  followed  him  at 
last,  and  laid  her  hand  upon  his  arm. 

"  Speak,"  she  impetuously  cried.  "  Tell  me  what  you 
think  ;  what  I  have  to  expect." 

But  he  shook  his  head. 

"  Wait,"  he  returned  ;  "  wait  till  the  Grand  Jury  has 
brought  in  a  bill  of  indictment.  It  will,  doubtless,  be 
against  one  of  these  two  men  ;  but  I  must  know  which, 
before  I  can  say  or  do  any  thing." 

"  And  do  you  think  there  can  be  any  doubt  about 
which  of  these  two  it  will  be  ? "  she  inquired,  with  sudden 
emotion. 

"  There  is  always  doubt,"  he  rejoined,  "  about  any  thing 
or  every  thing  a  body  of  men  may  do.  This  is  a  very 
remarkable  case,  Imogene,"  he  resumed,  with  increased 
sombreness  ;  "  the  most  remarkable  one,  perhaps,  that 
has  ever  come  under  my  observation.  What  the  Grand 
Jury  will  think  of  it ;  upon  which  party,  Mansell  or  Hil- 
dreth,  the  weight  of  their  suspicion  will  fall,  neither  I  nor 
Ferris,  nor  any  other  man,  can  prophesy  with  any  assur- 
ance. The  evidence  against  both  is,  in  so  far  as  we  know, 
entirely  circumstantial.  That  you  believe  Mr.  Mansell 
to  be  the  guilty  party " 

"  Believe  !  "  she  murmured  ;  "  I  know  it." 

"  That  you  believe  him  to  be  the  guilty  party,"  the  wary 


298  HAND   AND    RING. 

lawyer  pursued,  as  if  he  had  not  heard  her.  "  does  not 
imply  that  they  will  believe  it  too.  Hildreth  comes  of  a 
bad  stock,  and  his  late  attempt  at  suicide  tells  wonder- 
fully against  him  ;  yet,  the  facts  you  have  to  give  in 
Mansell's  disfavor  are  strong  also,  and  Heaven  only 
knows  what  the  upshot  will  be.     However,  a  few  weeks 

will   determine   all    that,    and   then "     Pausing,   he 

looked  at  her,  and,  as  he  did  so,  the  austerity  and  self- 
command  of  the  lawyer  vanished  out  of  sight,  and  the 
passionate  gleam  of  a  fierce  and  overmastering  love 
shone  again  in  his  eyes.  "  And  then,"  he  cried,  "  then 
we  v/ill  see  what  Tremont  Orcutt  can  do  to  bring  order 
out  of  this  chaos." 

There  was  so  much  resolve  in  his  look,  such  a  hint  of 
promise  in  his  tone,  that  she  flushed  with  something 
almost  akin  to  hope. 

"Oh,  generous "  she  began. 

But  he  stopped  her  before  she  could  say  more. 

"Wait,"  he  repeated;  "wait  till  we  see  what  action 
will  be  taken  by  the  Grand  Jury."  And  taking  her  hand, 
he  looked    earnestly,   if   not    passionately,   in    her   face. 

"Imogene,"he  commenced,  "if  I  should  succeed " 

But  there  he  himself  stopped  short  with  a  quick  recalling 
of  his  own  words,  perhaps.  "  No,"  he  cried,  "  I  will  say 
no  more  till  we  see  which  of  these  two  men  is  to  be 
brought  to  trial."  And,  pressing  her  hand  to  his  lips,  he 
gave  her  one  last  look  in  which  was  concentrated  all  the 
secret  passions  which  had  been  called  forth  by  this  hour, 
and  hastily  left  the  room. 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  299 


XXIV. 


A    TRUE    BILL. 


Come  to  me,  friend  or  foe, 

And  tell  me  who  is  victor,  York  or  Warwick.— Henry  VL 

THE  town  of  Sibley  was  in  a  state  of  excitement. 
About  the  court-house  especially  the  crowd  was 
great  and  the  interest  manifested  intense.  The  Grand 
Jury  was  in  session,  and  the  case  of  the  Widow  Clem- 
mens  was  before  it. 

As  all  the  proceedings  of  this  body  are  private,  the 
suspense  of  those  interested  in  the  issue  was  naturally 
very  great.  The  name  of  the  man  lastly  suspected  of  the 
crime  had  transpired,  and  both  Hildreth  and  Mansell 
had  their  partisans,  though  the  mystery  surrounding  the 
latter  made  his  friends  less  forward  in  asserting  his  inno- 
cence than  those  of  the  more  thoroughly  understood  Hil- 
dreth. Indeed,  the  ignorance  felt  on  all  sides  as  to  the 
express  reasons  for  associating  the  name  of  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  nephew  with  his  aunt's  murder  added  much  to  the 
significance  of  the  hour.  Conjectures  were  plenty  and 
the  wcfnder  great,  but  the  causes  why  this  man,  or  any 
other,  should  lie  under  a  suspicion  equal  to  that  raised 
against  Hildreth  at  the  inquest  was  a  mystery  that  none 
could  solve. 


300  HAND   AND   RING. 

But  what  is  the  curiosity  of  the  rabble  to  us  ?  Our  ia- 
terest  is  in  a  little  room  far  removed  from  this  scene  of 
excitement,  where  the  young  daughter  of  Professor 
Darling  kneels  by  the  side  of  Imogene  Dare,  striving  hj 
caress  and  entreaty  to  win  a  word  from  her  lips  or  a 
glance  from  her  heavy  eyes. 

"  Imogene,"  she  pleaded, — "  Imogene,  what  is  this 
terrible  grief  ?  Why  did  you  have  to  go  to  the  court- 
house this  morning  with  papa,  and  why  have  you  been 
almost  dead  with  terror  and  misery  ever  since  you  got 
back  ?  Tell  me,  or  I  shall  perish  of  mere  fright.  For 
weeks  now,  ever  since  you  were  so  good  as  to  help  me 
with  my  wedding-clothes,  I  have  seen  that  something 
dreadful  was  weighing  upon  your  mind,  but  this  which 
you  are  suffering  now  is  awful  ;  this  I  cannot  bear.  Can- 
not you  speak,  dear  ?     Words  will  do  you  good." 

"  Words  !  " 

Oh,  the  despair,  the  bitterness  of  that  single  exclama- 
tion !  ]\Iiss  Darling  drew  back  in  dismay.  As  if  released, 
Imogene  rose  to  her  feet  and  surveyed  the  sweet  and  in- 
genuous countenance  uplifted  to  her  own,  with  a  look  of 
faint  recognition  of  the  womanly  sympathy  it  conveyed. 

"  Helen,"  she  resumed,  "  you  are  happy.  Don't  stay 
here  with  me,  hut  go  where  there  are  cheerfulness  and 
hope." 

"  But  I  cannot  while  you  suffer  so.  I  love  you, 
Imogene.  Would  you  drive  me  away  from  your  side 
when  you  are  so  unhappy  ?  You  don't  care  for  me  as  I 
do  for  you  or  you  could  not  do  it." 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  3OI 

"  Helen  !  "  The  deep  tone  made  the  sympathetic  lit« 
tie  bride-elect  quiver.  "  Helen,  some  griefs  are  best 
borne  alone.  Only  a  few  hours  now  and  I  shall  know 
the  worst.     Leave  me." 

But  the  gentle  little  creature  was  not  to  be  driven  away. 
She  only  clung  the  closer  and  pleaded  the  more  earnestly: 

"  Tell  me,  tell  me  !  " 

The  reiteration  of  this  request  was  too  much  for  the 
pallid  woman  before  her.  Laying  her  two  hands  on  the 
shoulders  of  this  child,  she  drew  back  and  looked  her  ear- 
nestly in  the  face. 

"Helen,"  she  cried,  "what  do  you  know  of  earthly 
anguish  ?  A  petted  child,  the  favorite  of  happy  fortune, 
you  have  been  kept  from  evil  as  from  a  blight.  None  of 
the  annoyances  of  life  have  been  allowed  to  enter 
your  path,  much  less  its  griefs  and  sins.  Terror  with  you 
is  but  a  name,  remorse  an  unknown  sensation.  Even 
your  love  has  no  depths  in  it  such  as  suffering  gives.  Yet, 
since  you  do  love,  and  love  well,  perhaps  you  can  under- 
stand something  of  what  a  human  soul  can  endure  who 
sees  its  only  hope  and  only  love  tottering  above  a  gulf 
too  horrible  for  words  to  describe — a  gulf,  too,  which  her 

own  hand But  no,   I  cannot  tell  you.     I  overrated 

my  strength.     I " 

She  sank  back,  but  the  next  moment  started  again  to 
her  feet :  a  servant  had  opened  the  door. 

"  What  is  it  !  "  she  exclaimed  ;  "  speak,  tell  me." 

"  Only  a  gentleman  to  see  you,  miss." 


302  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Only  a "    But  she  stopped  in  that  vain  repetition 

of  the  girl's  simple  words,  and  looked  at  her  as  if  she 
would  force  from  her  lips  the  name  she  had  not  the  cour- 
age to  demand  ;  but,  failing  to  obtain  it,  turned  away  to 
the  glass,  where  she  quietly  smoothed  her  hair  and  ad- 
justed the  lace  at  her  throat,  and  then  catching  sight  of 
the  tear-stained  face  of  Helen,  stooped  and  gave  her  a 
kiss,  after  which  she  moved  mechanically  to  the  door  and 
went  down  those  broad  flights,  one  after  one,  till  she  came 
to  the  parlor,  when  she  went  in  and  encountered — Mr. 
Orcutt. 

A  glance  at  his  face  told  her  all  she  wanted  to  know. 

"Ah  !  "  she  gasped,  "  it  is  then " 

"  Mansell !  " 

It  was  five  minutes  later.  Imogene  leaned  against  the 
window  where  she  had  withdrawn  herself  at  the  utterance 
of  that  one  word.  Mr.  Orcutt  stood  a  couple  of  paces 
behind  her. 

"  Imogene,"  said  he,  "there  is  a  question  I  would  like 
to  have  you  answer." 

The  feverish  agitation  expressed  in  his  tone  made  her 
look  around. 

"  Put  it,"  she  mechanically  replied. 

But  he  did  not  find  it  easy  to  do  this,  while  her  eyes 
rested  upon  him  in  such  despair.  He  felt,  however,  that 
the  doubt  in  his  mind  must  be  satisfied  at  all  hazards  ;  so 
choking  down  an  emotion  that  was  almost  as  boundless  as 
her  own,  he  ventured  to  ask  : 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  303 

"Is  it  among  the  possibilities  that  you  could  ever 
again  contemplate  giving  yourself  in  marriage  to  Craik 
Mansell,  no  matter  what  the  issue  of  the  coming  trial  may 
be?" 

A  shudder  quick  and  powerful  as  that  which  follows  the 
withdrawal  of  a  dart  from  an  agonizing  wound  shook  her 
whole  frame  for  a  moment,  but  she  answered,  steadily  : 

"  No  ;  how  can  you  ask,  Mr.  Orcutt  ?  " 

A  gleam  of  relief  shot  across  his  somewhat  haggard 
features. 

"Then,"  said  he,  "  it  will  be  no  treason  in  me  to  assure 
you  that  never  has  my  love  been  greater  for  you  than  to- 
day. That  to  save  you  from  the  pain  which  you  are  suf- 
fering, I  would  sacrifice  every  thing,  even  my  pride.  If, 
therefore,  there  is  any  kindness  I  can  show  you,  any  deed 
I  can  perform  for  your  sake,  I  am  ready  to  attempt  it, 
Imogene. 

"Would  you — "  she  hesitated,  but  gathered  courage 
as  she  met  his  eye — "  would  you  be  willing  to  go  to  him 
with  a  message  from  me  ?  " 

His  glance  fell  and  his  lips  took  a  line  that  startled 
Imogene,  but  his  answer,  though  given  with  bitterness 
was  encouraging. 

"  Yes,"  he  returned  ;  "  even  that," 

"  Then,"  she  cried,  "tell  him  that  to  save  the  innocent, 
I  had  to  betray  the  guilty,  but  in  doing  this  I  did  not 
spare  myself ;  that  whatever  his  doom  may  be,  I  shall 
share  it,  even  though  it  be  that  of  death." 


304  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Imogene  !  " 

"  Will  you  tell  him  ?  "  she  asked. 

But  he  would  not  have  been  a  man,  much  less  a  lover, 
if  he  could  answer  that  question  now.  Seizing  her  by  the 
arm,  he  looked  her  wildly  in  the  face. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  kill  yourself  ? "  he  demanded. 

"  I  feel  I  shall  not  live,"  she  gasped,  while  her  hand 
went  involuntarily  to  her  heart. 

He  gazed  at  her  in  horror. 

"And  if  he  is  cleared  ?"  he  hoarsely  ejaculated. 

"  I — I  shall  try  to  endure  my  fate." 

He  gave  her  another  long,  long  look. 

"  So  this  is  the  alternative  you  give  me  ? "  he  bitterly 
exclaimed.  '  I  must  either  save  this  man  or  see  you 
perish.  Well,"  he  declared,  after  a  few  minutes'  further 
contemplation  of  her  face,  "I  will  save  this  man — that  is, 
if  he  will  allow  me  to  do  so." 

A  flash  of  joy  such  as  he  had  not  perceived  on  her 
countenance  for  weeks  transformed  its  marble-like  severity 
ijjito  something  of  its  pristine  beauty. 

"  And  you  will  take  him  my  message  also  ?  "  she  cried. 

But  to  this  he  shook  his  head. 

"  If  I  am  to  approach  him  as  a  lawyer  willing  to  under- 
take his  cause,  don't  you  see  I  can  give  him  no  such 
message  as  that  ?  " 

"  Ah,  yes,  yes.  But  you  can  tell  him  Imogene  Dare 
has  risked  her  own  life  and  happiness  to  save  the  inno- 
cent." 


THE   WEAVING   OF   A   WEB.  305 

"  I  will  tell  him  whatever  I  can  to  show  your  pity  and 
your  misery." 

And  she  had  to  content  herself  with  this.  In  the  light 
of  the  new  hope  that  was  thus  unexpectedly  held  out  to 
her,  it  did  not  seem  so  difficult.  Giving  Mr.  Orcutt  her 
hand,  she  endeavored  to  thank  him,  but  the  reaction  from 
her  long  suspense  was  too  much,  and,  for  the  first  time 
in  her  brave  young  life,  Imogene  lost  consciousness  and 
fainted  quite  away. 


306  HAND   AND   RING. 


XXV. 

AMONG    TELESCOPES    AND    CHARTS. 
Tarry  a  little — there  is  something  else. — Merchant  of  Venice. 

GOUVERNEUR  HILDRETH  was  discharged 
and  Craik  Mansell  committed  to  prison  to  await 
his  trial. 

Horace  Byrd,  who  no  longer  had  any  motive  for  re- 
maining in  Sibley,  had  completed  all  his  preparations  to 
return  to  New  York.  His  valise  was  packed,  his  adieus 
made,  and  nothing  was  left  for  him  to  do  but  to  step 
around  to  the  station,  when  he  bethought  him  of  a  cer- 
tain question  he  had  not  put  to  Hickory. 

Seeking  him  out,  he  propounded  it. 

"  Hickory,"  said  he,  "  have  you  ever  discovered  in  the 
course  of  your  inquiries  where  Miss  Dare  was  on  the 
morning  of  the  murder?  " 

The  stalwart  detective,  who  was  in  a  very  contented 
frame  of  mind,  answered  up  with  great  cheeriness  : 

"  Have  n't  I,  though !  It  was  one  of  the  very  first 
things  I  made  sure  of.  She  was  at  Professor  Darling's 
house  on  Summer  Avenue." 

"  At   Professor   Darling's  house  ? "      Mr.  Byrd  felt  w 

■  sensation  of  dismay.     Professor  Darling's  house  was,  as 

you    remember,    in    almost   direct   communication   with 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  307 

Mrs.  Clemmens'  cottage  by  means  of  a  path  through  the 
woods.  As  Mr.  Byrd  recalled  his  first  experience  in 
threading  those  woods,  and  remembered  with  what  sud- 
denness he  had  emerged  from  them  only  to  find  himself 
in  full  view  of  the  West  Side  and  Professor  Darling's 
spacious  villa,  he  stared  uneasily  at  his  colleague  and 
said  : 

"  It  is  train  time,  Hickory,  but  I  cannot  help  that. 
Before  I  leave  this  town  I  must  know  just  what  she  was 
doing  on  that  morning,  and  whom  she  was  with.  Can 
you  find  out  ?  " 

"  Can  I  find  out?  " 

The  hardy  detective  was  out  of  the  door  before  the 
last  word  of  this  scornful  repetition  had  left  his  lips. 

He  was  gone  an  hour.  When  he  returned  he  looked 
very  much  excited. 

"  Well  !  "  he  ejaculated,  breathlessly,  "  I  have  had  an 
experience." 

Mr.  Byrd  gave  him  a  look,  saw  something  he  did  not 
like  in  his  face,  and  moved  uneasily  in  his  chair. 

"  You  have  ?  "  he  retorted.     "  What  is  it  ?     Speak." 

"  Do  you  know,"  the  other  resumed,  "that  the  hardest 
thing  I  ever  had  to  do  was  to  keep  my  head  down  in  the 
hut  the  other  day,  and  deny  myself  a  look  at  the  woman 
who  could  bear  herself  so  bravely  in  the  midst  of  a  scene 
so  terrible.  Well,"  he  went  on,  "  I  have  to-day  been  re- 
warded for  my  self-control.     I  have  seen  Miss  Dare." 

Horace  Byrd  could  scarcely  restrain  his  impatience. 


308  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Where  ?  "  he  demanded.  "  How  ?  Tell  a  fellow, 
can't  you  ?  " 

"  I  am  going  to,"  protested  Hickory.  "  Cannot  you 
wait  a  minute  ?  /  had  to  wait  forty.  Well,"  he  con- 
tinued more  pleasantly  as  he  saw  the  other  frown,  "  I 
went  to  Professor  Darling's.  There  is  a  girl  there  I  have 
talked  to  before,  and  I  had  no  difficulty  in  seeing  her  or 
getting  a  five  minutes'  chat  with  her  at  the  back-gate. 
Odd  how  such  girls  will  talk  !  She  told  me  in  three 
minutes  all  I  wanted  to  know.  Not  that  it  was  so  much, 
only " 

"Do  get  on,"  interrupted  Mr.  Byrd.  "  When  did  Miss 
Dare  come  to  the  house  on  the  morning  Mrs.  Clemmens 
was  murdered,  and  what  did  she  do  while  there  ? " 

"  She  came  early  ;  by  ten  o'clock  or  so,  I  believe,  and 
she  sat,  if  she  did  sit,  in  an  observatory  they  have  at  the 
top  of  the  house :  a  place  where  she  often  used  to  go,  I 
am  told,  to  study  astronomy  with  Professor  Darling's 
oldest  daughter." 

"  And  was  Miss  Darling  with  her  that  morning  ?  Did 
they  study  together  all  the  time  she  was  in  the  house?" 

"  No  ;  that  is,  the  girl  said  no  one  went  up  to  the  ob- 
servatory with  Miss  Dare  ;  that  Miss  Darling  did  not 
happen  to  be  at  home  that  day,  and  Miss  Dare  had  to 
study  alone.  Hearing  this,"  pursued  Hickory,  answering 
the  look  of  impatience  in  the  other's  face,  "  I  had  a 
curiosity  to  interview  the  observatory,  and  being — well, 
not  a  clumsy  fellow  at  softsoaping  a  girl — I  at  last  sue- 


THE   WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  309 

ceeded  in  prevailing  upon  her  to  take  me  up.  Byrd,  will 
you  believe  me  when  I  tell  you  that  we  did  it  without  go- 
ing into  the  house  ?  " 

"What?" 

"I  mean,"  corrected  the  other,  "without  entering  the 
main  part  of  the  building.  The  professor's  house  has  a 
tower,  you  know,  at  the  upper  angle  toward  the  woods, 
and  it  is  in  the  top  of  that  tower  he  keeps  his  telescopes 
and  all  that  kind  of  thing.  The  tower  has  a  special 
staircase  of  its  own.  It  is  a  spiral  one,  and  opens  on 
a  door  below  that  connects  directly  with  the  garden. 
We  went  up  these  stairs." 

"You  dared  to?" 

"  Yes ;  the  girl  assured  me  every  one  was  out  of  the 
house  but  the  servants,  and  I  believed  her.  We  went  up 
the  stairs,  entered  the  observatory " 

"  It  is  not  kept  locked,  then  ?" 

"  It  was  not  locked  to-day — saw  the  room,  which  is  a 
curious  one — glanced  out  over  the  view,  which  is  well 
worth  seeing,  and  then " 

"Well,  what?" 

"  I  believe  I  stood  still  and  asked  the  girl  a  question  or 
two  more.  I  inquired,"  he  went  on,  deprecating  the 
other's  impatience  by  a  wave  "of  his  nervous  hand,  "  when 
Miss  Dare  came  down  from  this  place  on  the  morning 
you  remember.  She  answered  that  she  could  n't  quite 
tell  ;  that  she  would  n't  have  remembered  any  thing  about 
it  at  all,  only  that  Miss  Tremaine  came  to  the  house  that 


3IO  HAND   AND    RING. 

morning,  and  wanting  to  see  Miss  Dare,  ordered  her  to 
go  up  to  the  observatory  and  tell  that  lady  to  come  down, 
and  that  she  went,  but  to  her  surprise  did  not  find  Miss 
Dare  there,  though  she  was  sure  she  had  not  gone  home, 
or,  at  least,  had  n't  taken  any  of  the  cars  that  start  from 
the  front  of  the  house,  for  she  had  looked  at  them  every 
one  as  they  went  by  the  basement  window  where  she  was 
at  work." 

"  The  girl  said  this  ?  " 

"  Yes,  standing  in  the  door  of  this  small  room,  and 
looking  me  straight  in  the  eye." 

"And  did  you  ask  her  nothing  more  ?  Say  nothing  about 
the  time,  Hickory,  or — or  inquire  where  she  supposed 
Miss  Dare  to  have  gone  ?" 

"Yes,  I  asked  her  all  this.  I  am  not  without  curiosity 
any  more  than  you  are,  Mr.  Byrd." 

"  And  she  replied  ?  " 

"  Oh,  as  to  the  time,  that  it  was  somewhere  before  noon. 
Her  reason  for  being  sure  of  this  was  that  Miss  Tremaine 
declined  to  wait  till  another  effort  had  been  made  to  find 
Miss  Dare,  saying  she  had  an  engagement  at  twelve  which 
she  did  not  wish  to  break." 

"  And  the  girl's  notions  about  where  Miss  Dare  had 
gone  ?  " 

"Such  as  you  expect,  Byrd.  She  said  she  did  not 
know  any  thing  about  it,  but  that  Miss  Dare  often  went 
strolling  in  the  garden,  or  even  in  the  woods  when  she 
came  to  Professor  Darling's  house,  and  that  she  supposed 


THE  WEAVING   OF  A   WEB.  3II 

she  had  gone  off  on  some  such  walk  at  this  time,  for,  at 
one  o'clock  or  thereabouts,  she  saw  her  pass  in  the 
horse-car  on  her  way  back  to  the  town," 

"  Hickory,  I  wish  you  had  not  told  me  this  just  as  I  am 
going  back  to  the  city." 

"Wish  I  had  not  told  it,  or  wish  I  had  not  gone  to 
Professor  Darling's  house  as  you  requested  ? " 

"  Wish  you  had  not  told  it.  I  dare  not  wish  the  other. 
But  you  spoke  of  seeing  Miss  Dare  ;  how  was  that  ? 
Where  did  you  run  across  her?" 

"  Do  you  want  to  hear  ?  " 

"  Of  course,  of  course." 

"  But  I  thought " 

"  Oh,  never  mind,  old  boy  ;  tell  me  the  whole  now,  as 
long  as  you  have  told  me  any.  Was  she  in  the 
house  ?  " 

"  I  will  tell  you.  I  had  asked  the  girl  all  these  ques- 
tions, as  I  have  said,  and  was  about  to  leave  the  observa- 
tory and  go  below  when  I  thought  I  would  cast  another 
glance  around  the  curious  old  place,  and  in  doing  so 
caught  a  glimpse  of  a  huge  portfolio  of  charts,  as  I 
supposed,  standing  upright  in  a  rack  that  stretched 
across  the  further  portion  of  the  room.  Somehow  my 
heart  misgave  me  when  I  saw  this  rack,  and,  scarcely 
conscious  what  it  was  I  feared,  I  crossed  the  floor  and 
looked  behind  the  portfolio.  Byrd,  there  was  a  woman 
crouched  there — a  woman  whose  pallid  cheeks  and 
burning  eyes  lifted  to  meet  my  own,  told  me  only  too 


312  HAND  AND   RING. 

plainly  that  it  was  Miss  Dare.  I  have  had  many  ex- 
periences," Hickory  allowed,  after  a  moment,  "and 
some  of  them  any  thing  but  pleasant  to  myself,  but  I 
don't  think  I  ever  felt  just  as  I  did  at  that  instant.  I 
believe  I  attempted  a  bow — I  don't  remember  ;  or,  at 
least,  tried  to  murmur  some  excuse,  but  the  look  that 
came  into  her  face  paralyzed  me,  and  I  stopped  before 
I  had  gotten  very  far,  and  waited  to  hear  what  she 
would  say.  But  she  did  not  say  much  ;  she  merely 
rose,  and,  turning  toward  me,  exclaimed  :  *  No  apolo- 
gies ;  you  are  a  detective,  I  suppose  ?  *  And  when  I 
nodded,  or  made  some  other  token  that  she  had  guessed 
correctly,  she  merely  remarked,  flashing  upon  me,  how- 
ever, in  a  way  I  do  not  yet  understand  :  '  Well,  you 
have  got  what  you  desired,  and  now  can  go.'  And  I 
went,  Byrd,  went ;  and  I  felt  puzzled,  I  don't  know 
why,  and   a  little    bit    sore    about    the    heart,  too,  as 

if Well,  I  can't  even  tell  what  I  mean  by  that  //. 

The  only  thing  I  am  sure  of  is,  that  Mansell's  cause 
has  n't  been  helped  by  this  day's  job,  and  that  if  this 
lady  is  asked  on  the  witness  stand  where  she  was  dur- 
ing the  hour  every  one  believed  her  to  be  safely  shut 
up  with  the  telescopes  and  charts,  we  shall    hear " 

"  What  ?  " 

"  Well,  that  she  7aas  shut  up  with  them,  most  likely. 
Women  like  her  are  not  to  be  easily  disconcerted  even  on 
the  witness  stand." 


THE  WEAVING  OF  A  WEB.  313 


XXVI. 

**HE    SHALL    HEAR    ME  !  " 

There 's  some  ill  planet  reigns  ; 

I  must  be  patient  till  the  heavens  look 

With  an  aspect  more  favorable. — Winter's  Tale. 

THE  time  is  midnight,  the  day  the  same  as  that 
which  saw  this  irruption  of  Hickory  into  Pro- 
fessor Darling's  observatory  ;  the  scene  that  of  Miss 
Dare's  own  room  in  the  northeast  tower.  She  is  stand- 
ing before  a  table  with  a  letter  in  her  hand  and  a  look 
upon  her  face  that,  if  seen,  would  have  added  much  to 
the  puzzlement  of  the  detectives. 

The  letter  was  from  Mr.  Orcutt  and  ran  thus  : 

I  have  seen  Mr.  Mansell,  and  have  engaged  myself  to  undertake 
his  defence.  When  I  tell  you  that  out  of  the  hundreds  of  cases  I 
have  tried  in  my  still  short  life,  I  have  lost  but  a  small  percentage, 
you  will  understand  what  this  means. 

In  pursuance  to  your  wishes,  I  mentioned  your  name  to  the 
prisoner  with  an  intimation  that  I  had  a  message  from  you  to  deliver. 
But  he  stopped  me  before  I  could  utter  a  word.  "  I  receive  no  com- 
munication from  Miss  Dare  !  "  he  declared,  and,  anxious  as,  I  really 
was  to  do  your  bidding,  I  was  compelled  to  refrain  ;  for  his  tone  was 
one  of  hatred  and  his  look  that  of  ineffable  scorn. 

This  was  all,  but  it  was  enough.  Imogene  had  read 
these   words   over   three   times,  and   now  was  ready  to 


314  HAND   AND    RING. 

plunge  the  letter  into  the  flame  of  a  candle  to  destroy  it. 
As  it  burned,  her  grief  and  indignation  took  words  : 

"  He  is  alienated,  completely  alienated,"  she  gasped  ; 
"  and  I  do  not  wonder.  But,"  and  here  the  full  majesty 
of  her  nature  broke  forth  in  one  grand  gesture,  "  he  shall 
hear  me  yet  !  As  there  is  a  God  above,  he  shall  hear  me 
yet,  even  if  it  has  to  be  in  the  open  court  and  in  the 
presence  of  judge  and  jury  !  " 


BOOK    III. 

THE    SCALES    OF   JUSTICE. 

XXVII. 

THE    GREAT    TRIAL. 

Othello.— "WiioX  dost  thou  think  ? 

la^o.—  Think,  my  lord? 

Othello.— ^y  heav'n,  he  echoes  me, 

As  if  there  was  some  monster  in  his  thought 

Too  hideous  to  be  shown. — Othello. 

SIBLEY  was  in  a  stir.  Sibley  was  the  central  point 
of  interest  for  the  whole  country.  The  great  trial 
was  in  progress  and  the  curiosity  of  the  populace  knew 
no  bounds. 

In  a  room  of  the  hotel  sat  our  two  detectives.  They 
had  just  come  from  the  court-house.  Both  seemed  in- 
chned  to  talk,  though  both  showed  an  indisposition  to 
open  the  conversation.  A  hesitation  lay  between  them  ; 
a  certain  thin  vail  of  embarrassment  that  either  one  would 
have  found  it  hard  to  explain,  and  yet  which  sufficed  to 
make  their  intercourse  a  trifle  uncertain  in  its  character, 
though  Hickory's  look  had  lost  none  of  its  rude  good- 
humor,  and  Byrd's  manner  was  the  same  mixture  of  easy 
nonchalance  and  quiet  self-possession  it  had  always  been. 

It  was  Hickory  who  spoke  at  last. 
315 


3l6  HAND  AND   RING. 

"Well,  Byrd  ?"  was  his  suggestive  exclamation. 

"  Well,  Hickory  ?  "  was  the  quiet  reply. 

"What  do  you  think  of  the  case  so  far  ?  " 

"  I  think  " — the  words  came  somewhat  slowly — "  I 
think  that  it  looks  bad.  Bad  for  the  prisoner,  I  mean," 
he  explained  the  next  moment  with  a  quick  flush. 

"  Your  sympathies  are  evidently  with  Mansell," 
Hickory  quietly  remarked. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  slow  reply.  "  Not  that  I  think  him  in- 
nocent, or  would  turn  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  truth  to 
serve  him." 

"  He  is  a  manly  fellow,"  Hickory  bluntly  admitted, 
after  a  moment's  puff  at  the  pipe  he  was  smoking. 
"  Do  you  remember  the  peculiar  straightforwardness  of 
his  look  when  he  uttered  his  plea  of  '  Not  guilty,'  and  the 
tone  he  used  too,  so  quiet,  yet  so  emphatic  ?  You  could 
have  heard  a  pin  drop." 

"Yes,"  returned  Mr.  Byrd,  with  a  quick  contraction  of 
his  usually  smooth  brow. 

"Have  you  noticed,"  the  other  broke  forth,  after 
another  puff,  "  a  certain  curious  air  of  disdain  that  he 
wears  ? " 

"Yes,"  was  again  the  short  reply. 
"  I  wonder  what  it  means  ? "  queried  Hickory,  care- 
lessly, knocking  the  ashes  out  of  his  pipe. 

Mr.  Byrd  flashed  a  quick  askance  look  at  his  col- 
league  from   under  his   half-fallen    lids,  but   made  no 

n 

answer. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  317 

"It  is  not  pride  alone,"  resumed  the  rough-and-ready 
detective,  half-musingly  ;  "  though  he  's  as  proud  as  the 
best  of  'em.  Neither  is  it  any  sort  of  make-believe,  or  / 
would  n't  be  caught  by  it.  'T  is — 't  is — what  ?  "  And 
Hickory  rubbed  his  nose  with  his  thoughtful  forefinger, 
and  looked  inquiringly  at  Mr.  Byrd. 

"  How  should  I  know  ? "  remarked  the  other,  tossing 
his  stump  of  a  cigar  into  the  fire.     "  Mr.  Mansell  is  too 
deep  a  problem  for  me." 
"And  Miss  Dare  too  ?" 
''And  Miss  Dare." 

Silence  followed  this  admission,  which  Hickory  broke 
tit  last  by  observing  : 

"  The  day  that  sees  her  on  the  witness  stand  will  be  in- 
teresting, eh  ?" 

"  It  is  not  far  off,"  declared  Mr.  Byrd. 
"No?" 

"  I  think  she  will  be  called  as  a  witness  to-morrow." 
"  Have  you  noticed,"  began  Hickory  again,  after  an- 
other short  interval  of  quiet  contemplation,  "  that  it  is 
only  when  Miss  Dare  is  present  that  Mansell  wears  the 
look  of  scorn  I  have  just  mentioned." 

"  Hickory,"  said  Mr.  Byrd,  wheeling  directly  about  in 
his  chair  and  for  the  first  time  surveying  his  colleague 
squarely,  "  I  have  noticed  this.  That  ever  since  the  day 
she  made  her  first  appearance  in  the  court-room,  she  has 
sat  with  her  eyes  fixed  earnestly  upon  the  prisoner,  and 
that  he  has  never  answered  her  look  by  so  much  as  a 


3l8  HAND   AND   RING. 

glance  in  her  direction.  This  has  but  one  explanation  as 
I  take  it.  He  never  forgets  that  it  is  through  her  he  has 
been  brought  to  trial  for  his  life." 

Mr.  Byrd  uttered  this  very  distinctly,  and  with  a  decided 
emphasis.  But  the  impervious  Hickory  only  settled  him- 
self farther  back  in  his  chair,  and  stretching  his  feet  out 
toward  the  fire,  remarked  dryly  : 

"  Perhaps  I  am  not  much  of  a  judge  of  human  nature, 
but  I  should  have  said  now  that  this  Mansell  was  not 
a  man  to  treat  her  contemptuously  for  that.  Rage  he 
might  show  or  hatred,  but  this  quiet  ignoring  of  her 
presence  seems  a  little  too  dignified  for  a  criminal  facing 
a  person  he  has  every  reason  to  believe  is  convinced 
of  his  guilt." 

"  Ordinary  rules  don't  apply  to  this  man.  Neither  you 
nor  I  can  sound  his  nature.  If  he  displays  contempt,  it 
is  because  he  is  of  the  sort  to  feel  it  for  the  woman  who 
has  betrayed  him." 

"  You  make  him  out  mean-spirited,  then,  as  well 
as  wicked  ? " 

"  I  make  him  out  human.  More  than  that,"  Mr.  Byrd 
resumed,  after  a  moment's  thought,  "  I  make  him  out  con- 
sistent. A  man  who  lets  his  passions  sway  him  to  the  ex- 
tent of  committing  a  murder  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying 
his  love  or  his  ambition,  is  not  of  the  unselfish  cast  that 
would  appreciate  such  a  sacrifice  as  Miss  Dare  has  made. 
This  under  the  supposition  that  our  reasons  for  believing 
him  guilty  are  well  founded.     If  our  suppositions   are 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  319 

false,  and  the  crime  was  not  committed  by  him,  his  con- 
tempt needs  no  explanation." 

"  Just  so  !  " 

The  peculiar  tone  in  which  this  was  uttered  caused  Mr. 
Byrd  to  flash  another  quick  look  at  his  colleague. 
Hickory  did  not  seem  to  observe  it. 

"What  makes  you  think  Miss  Dare  will  be  called 
to  the  witness  stand  to-morrow  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Well  I  will  tell  you,"  returned  Byrd,  with  the  sudden 
vivacity  of  one  glad  to  turn  the  current  of  conversation 
into  a  fresh  channel.  "  If  you  have  followed  the  method 
of  the  prosecution  as  I  have  done,  you  will  have  noticed 
that  it  has  advanced  to  its  point  by  definite  stages. 
First,  witnesses  were  produced  to  prove  the  existence  of 
motive  on  the  part  of  the  accused.  Mr.  Goodman 
was  called  to  the  witness  stand,  and,  after  him,  other 
business  men  of  Buffalo,  all  of  whom  united  in  unqualified 
assertions  of  the  prisoner's  frequently-expressed  desire  for 
a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  put  his  invention  into 
practical*  use.  Next,  the  amount  considered  necessary 
for  this  purpose  was  ascertained  and  found  to  be  just 
covered  by  the  legacy  bequeathed  him  by  his  aunt ;  after 
which,  ample  evidence  was  produced  to  show  that  he 
knew  the  extent  of  her  small  fortune,  and  the  fact 
that  she  had  by  her  will  made  him  her  heir.  Motive  for 
the  crime  being  thus  established,  they  now  proceeded  to 
prove  that  he  was  not  without  actual  opportunity  for  per- 
petrating it.     He  was  shown  to  have  been  in  Sibley  at  the 


320  HAND   AND   RING. 

time  of  the  murder.  The  station-master  at  Monteith  was 
confronted  with  the  prisoner,  also  old  Sally  Perkins. 
Then  you  and  I  came  before  the  court  with  our  testi- 
mony, and  whatever  doubt  may  have  remained  as  to  his 
having  been  in  a  position  to  effect  his  aunt's  death, 
and  afterward  escape  unnoticed  by  means  of  the  path 
leading  over  the  hills  to  Monteith  Quarry  station,  was 
swept  away.  What  remains  ?  To  connect  him  with  the 
murder  itself,  by  some  strong  link  of  circumstantial  evi- 
dence, such  as  the  ring  provides.  And  who  is  it  that 
can  give  testimony  regarding  the  ring  ? — Miss  Dare." 

"  Hem  !  Well,  she  will  do  it,"  was  the  dry  remark  of 
Hickory. 

"She  will  be  obliged  to  do  it,"  was  the  emphatic  re- 
sponse of  Byrd. 

And  again  their  glances  crossed  in  a  furtive  way  both 
seemed  ready  to  ignore. 

"What  do  you  think  of  Orcutt  ?  "  Hickory  next  in- 
quired. 

"  He  is  very  quiet." 

"  Too  quiet,  eh  ?  " 

"  Perhaps.  Folks  that  know  him  well  declare  they 
never  before  saw  him  conduct  a  case  in  so  temperate  a 
manner.  He  has  scarcely  made  an  effort  at  cross-exam- 
ination, and,  in  fact,  has  thus  far  won  nothing  for  the 
defence  except  that  astonishing  tribute  to  the  prisoner's 
character  given  by  Mr.  Goodman." 

"  Mr.  Goodman  is  Mansell's  friend." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  32 1 

"  I  know  it  ;  but  his  short,  decisive  statements  told 
upon  the  jury.  Such  a  man  as  he  made  Mansell  out  to 
be  is  just  the  sort  to  create  an  impression  on  a  body  of 
men  like  them." 

"Orcutt  understands  a  jury." 

"  Orcutt  understands  his  case.  He  knows  he  can 
make  nothing  by  attempting  to  shake  the  evidence  which 
has  been  presented  by  the  prosecution  ;  the  facts  are  too 
clear,  and  the  witnesses  which  have  been  called  to  testify 
are  of  too  reliable  a  character.  Whatever  defence  he 
contemplates,  it  will  not  rest  upon  a  denial  of  any  of  the 
facts  brought  to  light  through  our  efforts,  or  the  evidence 
of  such  persons  as  Messrs.  Goodman  and  Harrison." 

"  No." 

"  The  question  is,  then,  in  what  will  it  lie  ?  Some 
strong  point,  I  warrant  you,  or  he  would  not  hold  himself 
and  his  plans  so  completely  in  reserve.  But  what  strong 
point  ?     I  acknowledge  the  uncertainty  troubles  me." 

"  I  don't  wonder,"  rejoined  Hickory.  "  So  it  does 
me." 

And  a  constraint  again  fell  between  them  that  lasted 
till  Hickory  put  his  pipe  in  his  pocket  and  signified  his 
intention  of  returning  to  his  own  apartments. 


322  HAND   AND    RING. 


XXVIII. 

THE    CHIEF    WITNESS    FOR    THE    PROSECUTION. 

Oh,  while  you  live  tell  truth  and  shame  the  devil ! 

— Henry  IV. 

MR.  BYRD'S  countenance  after  the  departure  of 
his  companion  was  any  thing  but  cheerful.  The 
fact  is,  he  was  secretly  uneasy.  He  dreaded  the  morrow. 
He  dreaded  the  testimony  of  Miss  Dare.  He  had  not  yet 
escaped  so  fully  from  under  the  dominion  of  her  fascina- 
tions as  to  regard  with  equanimity  this  unhappy  woman 
forcing  herself  to  give  testimony  compromising  to  the 
man  she  loved. 

Yet  when  the  morrow  came  he  was  among  the  first  to 
secure  a  seat  in  the  court-room.  Though  the  scene  was 
lilcely  to  be  harrowing  to  his  feelings,  he  had  no  wish  to 
lose  it,  and,  indeed,  chose  such  a  position  as  would  give 
him  the  best  opportunity  for  observing  the  prisoner  and 
surveying  the  witnesses. 

He  was  not  the  only  one  on  the  look-out  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Miss  Dare.  The  increased  number  of  the  spec- 
tators and  the  general  air  of  expectation  visible  in  more 
than  one  of  the  chief  actors  in  this  terrible  drama  gave 
suspicious  proof  of  the  fact  ;  even  if  the  deadly  pallor  of 
the  lady  herself  had  not  revealed  her  own  feelings  in 
regard  to  ihe  subject. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  323 

The  entrance  of  the  prisoner  was  more  marked,  too, 
than  usual.  His  air  and  manner  were  emphasized,  so  to 
speak,  and  his  face,  when  he  turned  it  toward  the  jury, 
wore  an  iron  look  of  resolution  that  would  have  made 
him  conspicuous  had  he  occupied  a  less  prominent  posi- 
tion than  that  of  the  dock. 

Miss  Dare,  who  had  flashed  her  eyes  toward  him  at  the 
moment  of  his  first  appearance,  dropped  them  again,  con- 
trary to  her  usual  custom.  Was  it  because  she  knew  the 
moment  was  at  hand  when  their  glances  would  be  obliged 
to  meet  ? 

Mr.  Orcutt,  whom  no  movement  on  the  part  of  Miss 
Dare  ever  escaped,  leaned  over  and  spoke  to  the  prisoner. 

"  Mr,  Mansell,"  said  he,  "  are  you  prepared  to  submit 
with  composure  to  the  ordeal  of  confronting  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  stern  reply. 

"  I  would  then  advise  you  to  look  at  her  now,"  pro- 
ceeded his  counsel.  "  She  is  not  turned  this  way,  and 
you  can  observe  her  without  encountering  her  glance.  A 
quick  look  at  this  moment  may  save  you  from  betraying 
any  undue  emotion  wh?n  you  see  her  upon  the  stand." 

The  accused  smiled  with  a  bitterness  Mr.  Orcutt 
thought  perfectly  natural,  and  slowly  prepared  to  obey. 
As  he  raised  his  eyes  and  allowed  them  to  traverse  the 
room  until  they  settled  upon  the  countenance  of  the 
woman  he  loved,  this  other  man  who,  out  of  a  still  more 
absorbing  passion  for  Imogene,  was  at  that  very  moment 
doing  all  that  lay  in  his  power  for  the  saving  of  this  his 


324  HAND   AND   RING. 

openly  acknowledged  rival,  watched  him  with  the  closest 
and  most  breathless  attention.  It  was  another  instance 
of  that  peculiar  fascination  which  a  successful  rival  has 
for  an  unsuccessful  one.  It  was  as  if  this  great  lawyer's 
thoughts  reverted  to  his  love,  and  he  asked  himself  : 
"  What  is  there  in  this  Mansell  that  she  should  prefer  him 
to  me  ?  " 

And  Orcutt  himself,  though  happily  unaware  of  the 
fact,  was  at  that  same  instant  under  a  scrutiny  as  narrow 
as  that  he  bestowed  upon  his  client.  Mr.  Ferris,  who 
knew  his  secret,  felt  a  keen  interest  in  watching  how  he 
would  conduct  himself  at  this  juncture.  Not  an  expres- 
sion of  the  lawyer's  keen  and  puzzling  eye  but  was  seen 
by  the  District  Attorney  and  noted,  even  if  it  was  not 
understood. 

Of  the  three,  Mr.  Ferris  was  the  first  to  turn  away,  and 
his  thoughts  if  they  could  have  been  put  into  words  might 
have  run  something  like  this  :  "  That  man  "—meaning 
Orcutt — "  is  doing  the  noblest  work  one  human  being 
can  ]>erform  for  another,  and  yet  there  is  something  in  his 
face  I  do  not  comprehend.  Can  it  be  he  hopes  to  win 
Miss  Dare  by  his  effort  to  save  his  rival  ?  " 

As  for  the  thoughts  of  the  person  thus  unconsciously 
subjected  to  the  criticism  of  his  dearest  friend,  let  our 
knowledge  of  the  springs  that  govern  his  action  serve  to 
interpret  both  the  depth  and  bitterness  of  his  curiosity  ; 

while  the  sentiments  of  Mansell But  who  can  read 

what  lurks  behind    the    iron    of  that    sternly  composed 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  325 

countenance  ?  Not  Imogene,  not  Orcutt,  not  Ferris. 
His  secret,  if  he  owns  one,  he  keeps  well,  and  his  lids 
scarcely  quiver  as  he  drops  them  over  the  eyes  that  but  a 
moment  before  reflected  the  grand  beauty  of  the  unfort- 
unate woman  for  whom  he  so  lately  protested  the  most 
fervent  love. 

The  next  moment  the  court  was  opened  and  Miss 
Dare's  name  was  called  by  the  District  Attorney. 

With  a  last  look  at  the  unresponsive  prisoner,  Imogene 
rose,  took  her  place  on  the  witness  stand  and  faced  the 
jury. 

It  was  a  memorable  moment.  If  the  curious  and  im- 
pressible crowd  of  spectators  about  her  had  been  igno- 
rant of  her  true  relations  to  the  accused,  the  deadly 
stillness  and  immobility  of  her  bearing  would  have  con- 
vinced them  that  emotion  of  the  deepest  nature  lay 
behind  the  still,  white  mask  she  had  thought  fit  to  assume. 
That  she  was  beautiful  and  confronted  them  from  that 
common  stand  as  from  a  throne,  did  not  serve  to  lessen 
the  impression  she  made. 

The  officer  held  the  Bible  toward  her.  With  a  look 
that  Mr.  Byrd  was  fain  to  consider  one  of  natural  shrink- 
ing only,  she  laid  her  white  hand  upon  it  ;  but  at  the  in- 
timation from  the  officer,  "  The  right  hand,  if  you  please, 
miss,"  she  started  and  made  the  exchange  he  suggested, 
while  at  the  same  moment  there  rang  upon  her  ear  the 
voice  of  the  clerk  as  he  administered  the  awful  adjuration 
that  she  should,  as  she  believed  and  hoped  in  Eternal 


326  HAND   AND    RING. 

mercy,  tell  the  truth  as  between  this  man  and  the  law  and 
keep  not  one  tittle  back.  The  book  was  then  lifted  to  her 
lips  by  the  officer,  and  withdrawn. 

"  Take  your  seat,  Miss  Dare,"  said  the  District  Attor- 
ney.    And  the  examination  began. 

"  Your  name,  if  you  please  ?  " 

"  Imogene  Dare." 

"  Are  you  married  or  single  ?  " 

"  I  am  single." 

"  Where  were  you  born  ? " 

Now  this  was  a  painful  question  to  one  of  her  history. 
Indeed,  she  showed  it  to  be  so  by  the  flush  which  rose  to 
her  cheek  and  by  the  decided  trembling  of  her  proud  lip. 
But  she  did  not  seek  to  evade  it. 

"  Sir,"  she  said,  "  I  cannot  answer  you.  I  never  heard 
any  of  the  particulars  of  my  birth.     I  was  a  foundling." 

The  mingled  gentleness  and  dignity  with  which  she 
made  this  acknowledgment  won  for  her  the  instantane- 
ous sympathy  of  all  present.  Mr.  Orcutt  saw  this,  and 
the  flash  of  -  indignation  that  had  involuntarily  passed 
between  him  and  the  prisoner  subsided  as  quickly  as  it 
arose. 

Mr.  Ferris  went  on. 

"  Where  do  you  live  ?  " 

"  In  this  town  ?  " 

"  With  whom  do  you  live  ?  " 

"  I  am  boarding  a  present  with  a  woman  of  the  name 
of  Kennedy.     I  support  myself  by  my  needle,"  she  hur- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  327 

riedly  added,  as  though  anxious  to  forestall  his  next 
question. 

Seeing  the  prisoner  start  at  this,  Imogene  lifted  her 
head  still  higher.  Evidently  this  former  lover  of  hers 
knew  little  of  her  movements  since  they  parted  so  many 
weeks  ago. 

"  And  how  long  is  it  since  you  supported  yourself  in 
this  way  ?  "  asked  the  District  Attorney. 

"  For  a  few  weeks  only.  Formerly,"  she  said,  making 
a  slight  inclination  in  the  direction  of  the  prisoner's 
counsel,  "  I  lived  in  the  household  of  Mr.  Orcutt,  where 
I  occupied  the  position  of  assistant  to  the  lady  who  looks 
after  his  domestic  affairs."  And  her  eye  met  the 
lawyer's  with  a  look  of  pride  that  made  him  inwardly 
cringe,  though  not  even  the  jealous  glance  of  the  prisoner 
could  detect  that  an  eyelash  quivered  or  a  flicker  dis- 
turbed the  studied  serenity  of  his  gaze. 

The  District  Attorney  opened  his  lips  as  if  to  pursue 
this  topic,  but,  meeting  his  opponent's  eye,  concluded  to 
waive  further  preliminaries  and  proceed  at  once  to  the 
more  serious  part  of  the  examination. 

''  Miss  Dare,"  said  he,  "  will  you  look  at  the  prisoner 
and  tell  us  if  you  have  any  acquaintance  with  him  ? " 

Slowly  she  prepared  to  reply  ;  slowly  she  turned  her 
head  and  let  her  glance  traverse  that  vast  crowd  till  it 
settled  upon  her  former  lover.  The  look  which  passed 
like  lightning  across  her  face  as  she  encountered  his  gaze 
fixed  for  the  first  time  steadily  upon  her  own,  no  one  in 
that  assemblage  ever  forgot. 


328  I  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Yes,"  she  returned,  quietly,  but  in  a  tone  that  made 
Mansell  quiver  and  look  away,  despite  his  iron  self-com- 
mand ;  "  I  know  him." 

"  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  say  how  long  you  have 
known  him  and  where  it  was  you  first  made  his  acquaint- 
ance ?  " 

"  I  met  him  first  in  Buffalo  some  four  months  since," 
was  the  steady  reply.  "  He  was  calling  at  a  friend's 
house  where  I  was  staying." 

"  Did  you  at  that  time  know  of  his  relation  to  your 
townswoman,  Mrs.  Clemmens  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  It  was  not  till  I  had  seen  him  several 
times  that  I  learned  he  had  any  connections  in  Sibley." 

"  Miss  Dare,  you  will  excuse  me,  but  it  is  highly 
desirable  for  the  court  to  know  if  the  prisoner  ever  paid 
his  addresses  to  you  ?  " 

The  deep,  almost  agonizing  blush  that  colored  her 
white  cheek  answered  as  truly  as  the  slow  "  Yes,"  that 
struggled  painfully  to  her  lips. 

"  And — excuse  me  again,  Miss  Dare — did  he  propose 
marriage  to  you  ?  " 

"  He  did." 

"  Did  you  accept  him  ?  " 

"I  did  not." 

"  Did  you  refuse  him  ?  " 

"  I  refused  to  engage  myself  to  him." 

"  Miss  Dare,  will  you  tell  us  when  you  left  Buffalo  ?  " 

"  Qn  the  nineteenth  day  of  August  last." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  329 

"  Did  the  prisoner  accompany  you  ?  " 

"  He  did  not." 

"Upon  what  sort  of  terms  did  you  part  ? " 

"  Good  terms,  sir," 

"  Do  you  mean  friendly  terms,  or  such  as  are  held  by 
a  man  and  a  woman  between  whom  an  attachment  exists 
which,  under  favorable  circumstances,  may  culminate  in 
marriage  ?  " 

"  The  latter,  sir,  I  think." 

"  Did  you  receive  any  letters  from  the  prisoner  after 
your  return  to  Sibley  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  And  did  you  answer  them  ?  " 

"I  did." 

"  Miss  Dare,  may  I  now  ask  what  reasons  you  gave 
the  prisoner  for  declining  his  offer — that  is,  if  my  friend 
does  not  object  to  the  question  ? "  added  the  District 
Attorney,  turning  with  courtesy  toward  Mr.  Orcutt. 

The  latter,  who  had  started  to  his  feet,  bowed  com- 
posedly and  prepared  to  resume  his  seat. 

"  I  desire  to  put  nothing  in  the  way  of  your  elicit- 
ing the  whole  truth  concerning  this  matter,"  was  his 
quiet,  if  somewhat  constrained,  response. 

Mr.  Ferris  at  once  turned  back  to  Miss  Dare. 

"  You  will,  then,  answer,"  he  said. 

Imogene  lifted  her  head  and  complied. 

"I  told  him,"  she  declared,  with  thrilling  distinctness, 
**  that  he  was  in  no  condition  to  marry.     I  am  by  nature 


330  HAND   AND   RING. 

an  ambitious  woman,  and,  not  having  suffered  at  that 
time,  thought  more  of  my  position  before  the  world 
than  of  what  constitutes  the  worth  and  dignity  of 
a  man." 

No  one  who  heard  these  words  could  doubt  they  were 
addressed  to  the  prisoner.  Haughtily  as  she  held  her- 
self, there  was  a  deprecatory  humility  in  her  tone 
that  neither  judge  nor  jury  could  have  elicited  from  her. 
Naturally  many  eyes  turned  in  the  direction  of  the 
prisoner.  They  saw  two  white  faces  before  them,  that  of 
the  accused  and  that  of  his  counsel,  who  sat  near  him. 
But  the  pallor  of  the  one  was  of  scorn,  and  that  of  the 

other Well,  no  one  who  knew  the  relations  of  Mr. 

Orcutt  to  the  witness  could  wonder  that  the  renowned 
lawyer  shrank  from  hearing  the  woman  he  loved  confess 
her  partiality  for  another  man. 

Mr.  Ferris,  who  understood  the  situation  as  well  as  any 
one,  but  who  had  passed  the  point  where  sympathy  could 
interfere  with  his  action,  showed  a  disposition  to  press  his 
advantage. 

"  Miss  Dare,  "he  mquired,  "  in  declining  the  proposals 
of  the  prisoner,  did  you  state  to  him  in  so  many  words 
these  objections  you  have  here  mentioned  ?  " 

"  I  did." 

"  And  what  answer  did  he  give  you  ? " 

"  He  replied  that  he  was  also  ambitious,  and  hoped  and 
intended  to  make  a  success  in  life." 

"  And  did  he  tell  you  how  he  hoped  and  mtended 
to  make  a  success  ?  " 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  33 1 

"He  did." 

"  Miss  Dare,  were  these  letters  written  by  you  ?  " 

She  looked  at  the  packet  he  held  toward  her,  started 
as  she  saw  the  broad  black  ribbon  that  encircled  it,  and 
bowed  her  head. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  these  are  my  letters,"  she  rejoined, 
a  little  tremulously  for  her.  And  unbinding  the  packet, 
she  examined  its  contents.  "Yes,"  she  answered,  "they 
are.     These  letters  were  all  written  by  me." 

And  she  handed  them  back  with  such  haste  that 
the  ribbon  which  bound  them  remained  in  her  fingers, 
where  consciously  or  unconsciously  she  held  it  clutched 
all  through  the  remaining  time  of  her  examination. 

"  Now,"  said  the  District  Attorney,  "I  propose  to  read 
two  of  these  letters.  Does  my  friend  wish  to  look  at 
them  before  I  offer  them  in  evidence  ?  "  holding  them  out 
to  Mr.  Orcutt. 

Every  eye  in  the  court-room  was  fixed  upon  the  latter's 
face,  as  the  letters  addressed  to  his  rival  by  the  woman  he 
wished  to  make  his  wife,  were  tendered  in  this  public 
manner  to  his  inspection.  Even  the  iron  face  of  Mansell 
relaxed  into  an  expression  of  commiseration  as  he  turned 
and  surveyed  the  man  who,  in  despite  of  the  anomalous 
position  they  held  toward  each  other,  was  thus  engaged 
in  battling  for  his  life  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
world.  At  that  instant  there  was  not  a  spectator  who 
did  not  feel  that  Tremont  Orcutt  was  the  hero  of  the 
moment. 

He  slowly  turned  to  the  prisoner  : 


332  HAND   AND   RING. 

"Have  you  any  objection  to  these  letters  being 
read  ? " 

"No,"  returned  the  other,  in  a  low  tone. 

Mr.  Orcutt  turned  firmly  to  the  District  Attorney  : 

"  You  may  read  them  if  you  think  proper,"  said  he. 

Mr.  Ferris  bowed  ;  the  letters  were  marked  as  ex- 
hibits by  the  stenographic  reporter  who  was  taking  the 
minutes  of  testimony,  and  handed  back  to  Ferris,  who 
proceeded  to  read  the  following  in  a  clear  voice  to 
the  jury  : 

"Sibley,  N.  Y.,  September  7,  1882. 

"  Dear  Friend, — You  show  signs  of  impatience,  and  ask  for  a 
word  to  help  you  through  this  period  of  uncertainty  and  unrest.  What 
can  I  say  more  than  I  have  said  ?  That  I  believe  in  you  and  in  your 
invention,  and  proudly  wait  for  the  hour  when  you  will  come  to 
claim  me  with  the  fruit  of  your  labors  in  your  hand.  I  am  impatient 
myself,  but  I  have  more  trust  than  you.  Some  one  will  see  the  value 
of  your  work  before  long,  or  else  your  aunt  will  interest  herself  in 
your  success,  and  lend  you  that  practical  assistance  which  you  need 
to  start  you  in  the  way  of  fortune  and  fame.  I  cannot  think  you  are 
going  to  fail.  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  look  forward  to  any  thing 
less  than  success  for  you  and  happiness  for  myself.  For  the  one  in- 
volves the  other,  as  you  must  know  by  this  time,  or  else  believe  me 
to  be  the  most  heartless  of  coquettes. 

"  Wishing  to  see  you,  but  of  the  opinion  that  further  meetings 
between  us  would  be  unwise  till  our  future  looks  more  settled,  I  re- 
main, hopefully  yours, 

"  Imogene  Dare." 

"The  other  letter  I  propose  to  read,"  continued  Mr. 
Ferris,  "is  dated  September  23d,  three  days  before  the 
widow's  death. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  333 

"  Dear  CrAIK, — Since  you  insist  upon  seeing  me,  and  say  that  you 
have  reasons  of  your  own  for  not  visiting  me  openly,  I  will  consent  to 
meet  you  at  the  trysting  spot  you  mention,  though  all  such  underhand 
dealings  are  as  foreign  to  my  nature  as  I  believe  them  to  be  to 
yours. 

"  Trusting  that  fortune  will  so  favor  us  as  to  make  it  unnecessary 

for  us  to  meet  in  this  way  more  than  once,  I  wait  in  anxiety  for  your 

coming. 

"  Imogene  Dare." 

These  letters,  unfolding  relations  that,  up  to  this  time, 
had  been  barely  surmised  by  the  persons  congregated 
before  her,  created  a  great  impression.  To  those  espe- 
cially who  knew  her  and  believed  her  to  be  engaged  to  Mr. 
Orcutt  the  surprise  was  wellnigh  thrilling.  The  witness 
seemed  to  feel  this,  and  bestowed  a  short,  quick  glance 
upon  the  lawyer,  that  may  have  partially  recompensed 
him  for  the  unpleasantness  of  the  general  curiosity. 

The  Prosecuting  Attorney  went  on  without  pause  : 

"  Miss  Dare,"  said  he,  "  did  you  meet  the  prisoner  as 
you  promised  ? " 

"I  did." 

"Will  you  tell  me  when  and  where?" 

"  On  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  September  27th,  in  the 
glade  back  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house." 

"  Miss  Dare,  we  fully  realize  the  pain  it  must  cost  you 
to  refer  to  these  matters,  but  I  must  request  you  to  tell  us 
what  passed  between  you  at  this  interview  ?  " 

"  If  you  will  ask  me  questions,  sir,  I  will  answer  them 
with  the  truth  the  subject  demands." 

The  sorrowful  dignity  with  which  this  was  said,  called 
forth  a  bow  from  the  Prosecuting  Attorney. 


334  HAND   AND    RING. 

"Very  well,"  he  rejoined,  "  did  the  prisoner  have  any 
thing  to  say  about  his  prospects  ? " 

"  He  did." 

"  How  did  he  speak  of  them  ?  " 

"  Despondingly." 

"And  what  reason  did  he  give  for  this  ?" 

"  He  said  he  had  failed  to  interest  any  capitalist  in  his 
invention." 

"  Any  other  reason  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  What  was  that  ?  " 

"  That  he  had  just  come  from  his  aunt  whom  he  had 
tried  to  persuade  to  advance  him  a  sum  of  money  to 
carry  out  his  wishes,  but  that  she  had  refused." 

"  He  told  you  that  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Did  he  also  tell  you  what  path  he  had  taken  to  his 
aunt's  house  ?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Was  there  any  thing  said  by  him  to  show  he  did  not 
take  the  secret  path  through  the  woods  and  across  the 
bog  to  her  back  door  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Or  that  he  did  not  return  in  the  same  way  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Miss  Dare,  did  the  'prisoner  express  to  you  at  this 
time  irritation  as  well  as  regret  at  the  result  of  his  efforts 
to  elicit  money  from  his  aunt  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  evidently  forced  reply. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  335 

**  Can  you  remember  any  words  that  he  used  which 
would  tend  to  show  the  condition  of  his  mind  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  memory  for  words,"  she  began,  but  flushed 
as  she  met  the  eye  of  the  Judge,  and  perhaps  remembered 
her  oath.  '*  I  do  recollect,  however,  one  expression  he 
used.  He  said  :  'My  life  is  worth  nothing  to  me  without 
success.  If  only  to  win  you,  I  must  put  this  matter 
through  ;  and  I  will  do  it  yet.'  " 

She  repeated  this  quietly,  giving  it  no  emphasis  and 
scarcely  any  inflection,  as  if  she  hoped  by  her  mechanical 
way  of  uttering  it  to  rob  it  of  any  special  meaning.  But 
she  did  not  succeed,  as  was  shown  by  the  compassionate 
tone  in  which  Mr,  Ferris  next  addressed  her. 

"  Miss  Dare,  did  you  express  any  anger  yourself  at  the 
refusal  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  to  assist  the  prisoner  by  lend- 
ing him  such  moneys  as  he  required  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  I  fear  I  did.  It  seemed  unreasonable  tome 
then,  and  I  was  very  anxious  he  should  have  that  oppor- 
tunity to  make  fame  and  fortune  which  I  thought  his 
genius  merited." 

"  Miss  Dare,"  inquired  the  District  Attorney,  calling 
to  his  aid  such  words  as  he  had  heard  from  old  Sally  in 
reference  to  this  interview,  "  did  you  make  use  of  any 
such  expression  as  this  :  '  I  wish  I  knew  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens '  ? " 

"  I  believe  I  did." 

"  And  did  this  mean  you  had  no  acquaintance  with  the 
murdered  woman  at  that   time  ? "    pursued    Mr.  Ferris. 


336  HAND   AND    RING. 

half-turning  to  the  prisoner's  counsel,  as  if  he  anticipated 
the  objection  which  that  gentleman  might  very  properly 
make  to  a  question  concerning  the  intention  of  a  wit- 
ness. 

And  Mr.  Orcutt,  yielding  to  professional  instinct,  did 
indeed  make  a  slight  movement  as  if  to  rise,  but  became 
instantly  motionless.  Nothing  could  be  more  painful  to 
him  than  to  wrangle  before  the  crowded  court-room  over 
these  dealings  between  the  woman  he  loved  and  the  man 
he  was  now  defending. 

Mr.  Ferris  turned  back  to  the  witness  and  awaited  her 
answer.     It  came  without  hesitation. 

"  It  meant  that,  sir." 

"  And  what  did  the  prisoner  say  when  you  gave  utter- 
ance to  this  wish  ?  " 

"  He  asked  me  why  I  desired  to  know  her." 

"  And  what  did  you  reply  ?  " 

"  That  if  I  knew  her  I  might  be  able  to  persuade  her  to 
listen  to  his  request." 

"  And  what  answer  had  he  for  this  ?  " 

"  None  but  a  quick  shake  of  his  head." 

"  Miss  Dare  ;  up  to  the  time  of  this  interview  had  you 
ever  received  any  gift  from  the  prisoner — jewelry,  for  in- 
stance— say,  a  ring  !  " 

"No,  sir." 

"  Did  he  offer  you  such  a  gift  then  ?  '* 

"  He  did." 

"  What  was  it  ?  " 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  337 

"  A  gold  ring  set  with  a  diamond." 

"  Did  you  receive  it  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  I  felt  that  in  taking  a  ring  from  him  I  would 
be  giving  an  irrevocable  promise,  and  I  was  not  ready  to 
do  that." 

"  Did  you  allow  him  to  put  it  on  your  finger  !  " 

"  I  did." 

"  And  it  remained  there  ?  "  suggested  Mr.  Ferris,  with 
a  smile. 

"A  minute,  may  be." 

"  Which  of  you,  then,  took  it  off  ?" 

"I  did." 

"  And  what  did  you  say  when  you  took  it  off  ?  " 

"I  do  not  remember  my  words." 

Again  recalling  old  Sally's  account  of  this  interview, 
Mr.  Ferris  asked  : 

"  Were  they  these  :  '  I  cannot.     Wait  till  to-morrow  '  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  believe  they  were." 

"  And  when  he  inquired  :  *  Why  to-morrow  ? '  did  you 
reply  :  '  A  night  has  been  known  to  change  the  whole 
current  of  one's  affairs  '  ?  " 

"I  did." 

"Miss  Dare,  what  did  you  mean  by  those  words?" 

"  I  object  !  "  cried  Mr.  Orcutt,  rising.  Unseen  by  any 
save  himself,  the  prisoner  had  made  him  an  eloquent  gest- 
ure, slight,  but  peremptory. 

"  I  think  it  is  one  I  have  a  right  to  ask,"  urged  the 
District  Attorney. 


338  HAND  AND   RING. 

But  Mr.  Orcutt,  who  manifestly  had  the  best  of  the 
argument,  maintained  his  objection,  and  the  Court  instant- 
ly ruled  in  his  favor, 

Mr.  Ferris  prepared  to  modify  his  question.  But  be- 
fore he  could  speak  the  voice  of  Miss  Dare  was  heard. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  she,  "there  was  no  need  of  all  this 
talk.  I  intended  to  seek  an  interview  with  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens  and  try  what  the  effect  would  be  of  confiding  to  her 
my  interest  in  her  nephew." 

The  dignified  simplicity  with  which  she  spoke,  and  the 
air  of  quiet  candor  that  for  that  one  moment  surrounded 
her,  gave  to  this  voluntary  explanation  an  unexpected 
force  that  carried  it  quite  home  to  the  hearts  of  the  jury. 
Even  Mr.  Orcutt  could  not  preserve  the  frown  with  which 
he  had  confronted  her  at  the  first  movement  of  her  lips, 
but  turned  toward  the  prisoner  with  a  look  almost  con- 
gratulatory in  its  character.  But  Mr.  Byrd,  who  for  rea- 
sons of  his  own  kept  his  eyes  upon  that  prisoner,  observed 
that  it  met  with  no  other  return  than  that  shadow  of  a 
bitter  smile  which  now  and  then  visited  liis  otherwise  un- 
moved countenance. 

Mr.  Ferris,  who,  in  his  friendship  for  the  witness,  was 
secretly  rejoiced  in  an  explanation  which  separated  her 
from  the  crime  of  her  lover,  bowed  in  acknowledgment  of 
the  answer  she  had  been  pleased  to  give  him  in  face  of  the 
ruling  of  the  Court,  and  calmly  proceeded  : 

"And  what  reply  did  the  prisoner  make  you  when  you 
uttered  this  remark  in  reference  to  the  change  that  a 
single  day  sometimes  makes  in  one's  affairs  ?  " 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  339 

"  Something  in  the  way  of  assent." 

*'  Cannot  you  give  us  his  words  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Well,  then,  can  you  tell  us  whether  or  not  he  looked 
thoughtful  when  you  said  this  ?  " 

"  He  may  have  done  so,  sir." 

"  Did  it  strike  you  at  the  time  that  he  reflected  on  what 
you  said  ? " 

"  I  cannot  say  how  it  struck  me  at  the  time." 

"  Did  he  look  at  you  a  few  minutes  before  speaking, 
or  in  any  way  conduct  himself  as  if  he  had  been  set 
thinking  ? " 

"  He  did  not  speak  for  a  few  minutes." 

"  And  looked  at  you  ? " 

•'  Yes,  sir." 

The  District  Attorney  paused  a  moment  as  if  to  let  the 
results  of  his  examination  sink  into  the  minds  of  the  jury; 
then  he  went  on  : 

"  Miss  Dare,  you  say  you  returned  the  ring  to  the 
prisoner  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  You  say  positively  the  ring  passed  from  you  to  him  ; 
that  you  saw  it  in  his  hand  after  it  had  left  yours  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  The  ring  passed  from  me  to  him,  but  I  did 
not  see  it  in  his  hand,  because  I  did  not  return  it  to  him 
that  way.     I  dropped  it  into  his  pocket." 

At  this  acknowledgment,  which  made  both  the  prisoner 
and  his  counsel  look  up,  Mr.  Byrd  felt  himself  nudged  by 
Hickory. 


340  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Did  you  hear  that  ?  "  he  whispered. 

"  Yes,"  returned  the  other. 

"  And  do  you  believe  it  ?  " 

"  Miss  Dare  is  on  oath,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Pooh  I  "  was  Hickory's  whispered  exclamation. 

The  District  Attorney  alone  showed  no  surprise. 

"  You  dropped  it  into  his  pocket  ? "  he  resumed.  "  How 
came  you  to  do  that  ?  " 

"  I  was  weary  of  the  strife  which  had  followed  my  refusal 
to  accept  this  token.  He  would  not  take  it  from  me  him- 
self, so  I  restored  it  to  him  in  the  way  I  have  said." 

"  Miss  Dare,  will  you  tell  us  what  pocket  this  was  ?" 

"  The  outside  pocket  on  the  left  side  of  his  coat,"  she 
returned,  with  a  cold  and  careful  exactness  that  caused  the 
prisoner  to  drop  his  eyes  from  her  face,  with  that  faint 
but  scornful  twitch  of  the  muscles  about  his  mouth,  which 
gave  to  his  countenance  now  and  then  the  proud  look  of 
disdain  which  both  the  detectives  had  noted. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  continued  the  Prosecuting  Attorney,  "  did 
you  see  this  ring  again  during  the  interview  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  detect  the  prisoner  making  any  move  to  take 
it  out  of  his  pocket,  or  have  you  any  reason  to  believe 
that  it  was  taken  out  of  the  pocket  on  the  left-hand  side 
of  his  coat  while  you  were  with  him  ? " 

"No,  sir." 

"  So  that,  as  far  as  you  know,  it  was  still  in  his  pocket 
when  you  parted  ?  " 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  34I 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Miss  Dare,  have  you  ever  seen  that  ring  since  ? " 

"  I  have." 

"  When  and  where  ?  " 

"  I  saw  it  on  the  morning  of  the  murder.  It  was  lying 
on  the  floor  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  dining-room.  I  had  gone 
to  the  house,  in  my  surprise  at  hearing  of  the  murderous 
assault  which  had  been  made  upon  her,  and,  while  survey- 
ing the  spot  where  she  was  struck,  perceived  this  ring  ly- 
ing on  the  floor  before  me." 

"  What  made  you  think  it  was  this  ring  which  you  had 
returned  to  the  prisoner  the  day  before  ?  " 

"  Because  of  its  setting,  and  the  character  of  the  gem,  I 
suppose." 

"  Could  you  see  all  this  where  it  was  lying  on  the 
floor  ? " 

"  It  was  brought  nearer  to  my  eyes,  sir.  A  gentleman 
who  was  standing  near,  picked  it  up  and  offered  it  to  me, 
supposing  it  was  mine.  As  he  held  it  out  in  his  open  palm 
I  saw  it  plainly. 

"  Miss  Dare,  will  you  tell  us  what  you  did  when  you 
first  saw  this  ring  lying  on  the  floor  ?  " 

"  I  covered  it  with  my  foot." 

"  Was  that  before  you  recognized  it  ?  " 

"I  cannot  say.  I  placed  my  foot  upon  it  instinc- 
tively." 

"  How  long  did  you  keep  it  there  ?  " 

"  Some  few  minutes." 


342  HAND  AND   RING. 

"  What  caused  you  to  move  at  last  ?  " 

"  I  was  surprised." 

"  What  surprised  you  ?  " 

"  A  man  came  to  the  door." 

"What  man." 

"  I  don't  know.  A  stranger  to  me.  Some  one  who  had 
been  sent  on  an  errand  connected  with  this  affair." 

"  What  did  he  say  or  do  to  surprise  you  ?  " 

"  Nothing.  It  was  what  you  said  yourself  after  the 
man  had  gone." 

"  And  what  did  I  say,  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

She  cast  him  a  look  of  the  faintest  appeal,  but  answered 
quietly : 

"  Something  about  its  not  being  the  tramp  who  had 
committed  this  crime." 

"  That  surprised  you  ?  " 

"  That  made  me  start." 

"  Miss  Dare,  were  you  present  in  the  house  when  the 
dying  woman  spoke  the  one  or  two  exclamations  which 
have  been  testified  to  in  this  trial  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  What  was  the  burden  of  the  first  speech  you  heard  ?  " 

"  The  words  Hand,  sir,  and  Ring.  She  repeated  the 
two  half  a  dozen  times." 

"  Miss  Dare,  what  did  you  say  to  the  gentleman  who 
showed  you  the  ring  and  asked  if  it  were  yours  ? " 

"  I  told  him  it  was  mine,  and  took  it  and  placed  it  on 
my  finger." 

"  But  the  ring  was  not  yours  ?  " 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  343 

"  My  acceptance  of  it  made  it  mine.  In  all  but  that 
regard  it  had  been  mine  ever  since  Mr.  Mansell  offered  it 
to  me  the  day  before." 

Mr.  Ferris  surveyed  the  witness  for  a  moment  before 
saying  : 

"Then  you  considered  it  damaging  to  your  lover  to 
have  this  ring  found  in  that  apartment  ? " 

Mr.  Orcutt  instantly  rose  to  object. 

"  I  won't  press  the  question,"  said  the  District  Attorney, 
with  a  wave  of  his  hand  and  a  slight  look  at  the  jury. 

"  You  ought  never  to  have  asked  it  ?  "  exclaimed  Mr. 
Orcutt,  with  the  first  appearance  of  heat  he  had  shown." 

"  You  are  right,"  Mr.  Ferris  coolly  responded.  "  The 
jury  could  see  the  point  without  any  assistance  from  you 
or  me." 

"And  the  jury,"  returned  Mr.  Orcutt,  with  equal  cool- 
ness, "is  scarcely  obliged  to  you  for  the  suggestion." 

"  Well,  we  won't  quarrel  about  it,"  declared  Mr. 
Ferris. 

"  We  won't  quarrel  about  any  thing,"  retorted  Mr.  Or- 
cutt.    "We  will  try  the  case  in  a  legal  manner." 

"  Have  you  got  through  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Ferris,  nettled. 

Mr.  Orcutt  took  his  seat  with  the  simple  reply : 

"  Go  on  with  the  case." 

The  District  Attorney,  after  a  momentary  pause  to  regain 
the  thread  of  his  examination  and  recover  his  equanimity, 
turned  to  the  witness. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  he  asked,  "  how  long  did  you  keep  that 
ring  on  your  finger  after  you  left  the  house  }  " 


344  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  A  little  while — five  or  ten  minutes,  perhaps." 

"Where  were  you  when  you  took  it  off  ?  " 

Her  voice  sank  just  a  trifle  : 

"  On  the  bridge  at  Warren  Street." 

"  What  did  you  do  with  it  then  ?  " 

Her  eyes  which  had  been  upon  the  Attorney's  face,  fell 
slowly. 

"  I  dropped  it  into  the  water,"  she  said. 

And  the  character  of  her  thoughts  and  suspicions  at 
that  time  stood  revealed. 

The  Prosecuting  Attorney  allowed  himself  a  few  more 
questions. 

"  When  you  parted  with  the  prisoner  in  the  woods,  was 
it  with  any  arrangement  for  meeting  again  before  he  re- 
turned to  Buffalo  ?  " 

"No,  sir." 

"Give  us  the  final  words  of  your  conversation,  if  you 
please." 

"We  were  just  parting,  and  I  had  turned  to  go,  when 
he  said  :  '  Is  it  good-by,  then,  Imogene  ? '  and  I  answered, 
'  That  to-morrow  must  decide.'  *  Shall  I  stay,  then  ? ' 
he  inquired  ;  to  which  I  replied,  '  Yes.'  " 

'T  was  a  short,  seemingly  literal,  repetition  of  possi- 
bly innocent  words,  but  the  whisper  into  which  her  voice 
sank  at  the  final  "  Yes  "  endowed  it  with  a  thrilling  effect 
for  which  even  she  was  not  prepared.  For  she  shuddered 
as  she  realized  the  deathly  quiet  that  followed  its  utter- 
ance, and  cast  a  quick  look  at  Mr.  Orcutt  that  was  full  of 
question,  if  not  doubt. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  345 

"  I  was  calculating  upon  the  interview  I  intended  to 
have  with  Mrs.  Clemmens,"  she  explained,  turning  toward 
the  Judge  with  indescribable  dignity. 

"We  understand  that,"  remarked  the  Prosecuting  At- 
torney, kindly,  and  then  inquired  : 

'*  Was  this  the  last  you  saw  of  the  prisoner  until  to- 
day ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  When  did  you  see  him  again  ?  " 

"  On  the  following  Wednesday." 

"  Where  ? " 

"  In  the  depot  at  Syracuse." 

"  How  came  you  to  be  in  Syracuse  the  day  after  the 
murder  ? " 

"I  had  started  to  go  to  Buffalo." 

"  What  purpose  had  you  in  going  to  Buffalo  ?  " 

"  I  wished  to  see  Mr.  Mansell." 

"  Did  he  know  you  were  coming  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Had  no  communication  passed  between  you  from  the 
time  you  parted  in  the  woods  till  you  came  upon  each 
other  in  the  depot  you  have  just  mentioned  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Had  he  no  reason  to  expect  to  meet  you  there  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  With  what  words  did  you  accost  each  other  ? " 

"  I  don't  know.  I  have  no  remembrance  of  saying 
any  thing.     I  was  utterly  dumbfounded  at  seeing  him  in 


346  HAND   AND   RING. 

this  place,  and  cannot  say  into  what  exclamation  I  may 
have  been  betrayed." 

"  And  he  ?     Don't  you  remember  what  he  said  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  I  only  know  he  started  back  with  a  look  of 
great  surprise.  Afterward  he  asked  if  I  were  on  my 
way  to  see  him." 

"  And  what  did  you  answer  ?  " 

"  I  don't  think  I  made  any  answer.  I  was  wondering 
if  he  was  on  his  way  to  see  me." 

"  Did  you  put  the  question  to  him  ?  " 

"  Perhaps.  1  cannot  tell.  It  is  all  like  a  dream  to 
me." 

If  she  had  said  horrible  dream,  every  one  there  would 
have  believed  her. 

"You  can  tell  us,  however,  if  you  held  any  conver- 
sation ?  " 

"  We  did  not." 

"  And  you  can  tell  us  how  the  interview  terminated  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  I  turned  away  and  took  the  train  back 
home,  which  I  saw  standing  on  the  track  without." 

"And  he?" 

"  Turned  away  also.     Where  he  went  I  cannot  say." 

"  Miss  Dare  "—the  District  Attorney's  voice  was  very 
earnest — "  can  you  tell  us  which  of  you  made  the  first 
movement  to  go  ? " 

"  What  does  he  mean  by  that  ? "  whispered  Hickory  to 
Byrd. 

"  I  think  "   she  commenced  and   paused.     Her 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  347 

eyes  in  wandering  over  the  throng  of  spectators  before 
her,  had  settled  on  these  two  detectives,  and  noting  the 
breathless  way  in  which  they  looked  at  her,  she  seemed 
to  realize  that  more  might  lie  in  this  question  than  at 
first  appeared. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  she  answered  at  last.  "  It  was  a 
simultaneous  movement,  I  think." 

"  Are  you  sure  ?  "  persisted  Mr.  Ferris.  "  You  are  on 
oath.  Miss  Dare  ?  Is  there  no  way  in  which  you  can 
make  certain  whether  he  or  you  took  the  initiatory  step 
in  this  sudden  parting  after  an  event  that  so  materially 
changed  your  mutual  prospects  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  I  can  only  say  that  in  recalling  the  sensa- 
tions of  that  hour,  I  am  certain  my  own  movement  was 
not  the  result  of  any  I  saw  him  take.  The  instinct  to 
leave  the  place  had  its  birth  in  my  own  breast." 

"  I  told  you  so,"  commented  Hickory,  in  the  ear  of 
Byrd.  "  She  is  not  going  to  give  herself  away,  whatever 
happens." 

"  But  can  you  positively  say  he  did  not  make  the  first 
motion  to  leave  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

Mr.  Ferris  bowed,  turned  toward  the  opposing  counsel 
and  said  : 

"  The  witness  is  yours." 

Mr.  Ferris  sat  down  perfectly  satisfied.  He  had  dex- 
terously brought  out  Imogene's  suspicions  of  the  prison- 
er's guilt,  and  knew  that  the  jury  must  be  influenced  in 


348  HAND  AND   RING. 

their  convictions  by  those  of  the  woman  who,  of  all  the 
world,  ought  to  have  believed,  if  she  could,  in  the  inno- 
cence of  her  lover.  He  did  not  even  fear  the  cross- 
examination  which  he  expected  to  follow.  No  amount 
of  skill  on  the  part  of  Orcutt  could  extract  other  than  the 
truth,  and  the  truth  was  that  Imogene  believed  the 
prisoner  to  be  the  murderer  of  his  aunt.  He,  therefore, 
surveyed  the  court-room  with  a  smile,  and  awaited  the 
somewhat  slow  proceedings  of  his  opponent  with  equa- 
nimity. 

But,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one,  Mr.  Orcutt,  after  a 
short  consultation  with  the  prisoner,  rose  and  said  he  had 
no  questions  to  put  to  the  witness. 

And  Miss  Dare  was  allowed  to  T»ithdraw  from  the 
stand,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  Mr.  Ferris,  who  found 
himself  by  this  move  in  a  still  better  position  than  he  had 
anticipated. 

"  Byrd,"  whispered  Hickory,  as  Miss  Dare  returned 
somewhat  tremulously  to  her  former  seat  among  the 
witnesses — "  Byrd,  you  could  knock  me  over  with  a 
feather.  I  thought  the  defence  would  have  no  difificulty 
in  riddling  this  woman's  testimony,  and  they  have  not 
even  made  the  effort.  Can  it  be  that  Orcutt  has  such 
an  attachment  for  her  that  he  is  going  to  let  his  rival 
hang  ?  " 

"  No.  Orcutt  is  n't  the  man  to  deliberately  lose  a  case 
for  any  woman.  He  looks  at  Miss  Dare's  testimony  from 
a  different  standpoint  than  you  do.  He  believes  what 
she  says  to  be  true,  and  you  do  not." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  349 

"  Then,  all  I  've  got  to  say,  '  So  much  the  worse  for 
Mansell  !  '  "  was  the  whispered  response.  "  He  was  a 
fool  to  trust  his  case  to  that  man." 

The  judge,  the  jury,  and  all  the  by-standers  in  court,  it 
must  be  confessed,  shared  the  opinion  of  Hickory — Mr. 
Orcutt  was  standing  on  slippery  ground. 


350  HAND   AND    RING. 


XXIX. 

THE    OPENING    OF    THE    DEFENCE. 

Excellent !  I  smell  a  device.— Twelfth  Night. 

LATE  that  afternoon  the  prosecution  rested.  It  had 
made  out  a  case  of  great  strength  and  seeming 
impregnability.  Favorably  as  every  one  was  disposed  to 
regard  the  prisoner,  the  evidence  against  him  was  such 
that,  to  quote  a  man  who  was  pretty  free  with  his  opinions 
in  the  lobby  of  the  court-room  :  "  Orcutt  will  have  to 
wake  up  if  he  is  going  to  clear  his  man  in  face  of  facts 
like  these." 

The  moment,  therefore,  when  this  famous  lawyer  and 
distinguished  advocate  rose  to  open  the  defence,  was  one 
of  great  interest  to  more  than  the  immediate  actors  in  the 
scene.  It  was  felt  that  hitherto  he  had  rather  idled  with 
his  case,  and  curiosity  was  awake  to  his  future  course. 
Indeed,  in  the  minds  of  many  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner 
was  on  trial  as  well  as  his  client. 

He  rose  with  more  of  self-possession,  quiet  and  re- 
served strength,  than  could  be  hoped  for,  and  his  look 
toward  the  Court  and  then  to  the  jury  tended  to  gain  for 
him  the  confidence  which  up  to  this  moment  he  seemed 
to  be  losing.  Never  a  handsome  man  or  even  an  impos- 
ing one,  he  had  the  advantage  of  always  rising  to  the  oc- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  351 

casion,  and  whether  pleading  with  a  jury  or  arguing  with 
opposing  counsel,  flashed  with  that  unmistakable  glitter 
of  keen  and  ready  intellect  which,  once  observed  in  a 
man,  marks  him  off  from  his  less  gifted  fellows  and  makes 
him  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes,  however  insignificant  his 
height,  features,  or  ordinary  expression. 

To-day  he  was  even  cooler,  more  brilliant,  and  more 
confident  in  his  bearing  than  usual.  Feelings,  if  feelings 
he  possessed — and  we  who  have  seen  him  at  his  hearth 
can  have  no  doubt  on  this  subject, — had  been  set  aside 
when  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  turned  his  face  upon  the  ex- 
pectant crowd  before  him.  To  save  his  client  seemed  the 
one  predominating  impulse  of  his  soul,  and,  as  he  drew 
himself  up  to  speak,  Mr.  Byrd,  who  was  watching  him  with 
the  utmost  eagerness  and  anticipation,  felt  that,  despite 
appearances,  despite  evidence,  despite  probability  itself, 
this  man  was  going  to  win  his  case. 

"  May  it  please  your  Honor  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury," 
he  began,  and  those  who  looked  at  him  could  not  but 
notice  how  the  prisoner  at  his  side  lifted  his  head  at  this 
address,  till  it  seemed  as  if  the  words  issued  from  his  lips 
instead  of  from  those  of  his  counsel,  "  I  stand  before  you 
to-day  not  to  argue  with  my  learned  opponent  in  reference 
to  the  evidence  which  he  has  brought  out  with  so  much 
ingenuity.  I  have  a  simpler  duty  than  that  to  perform. 
I  have  to  show  you  how,  in  spite  of  this  evidence,  in  face 
of  all  this  accumulated  testimony  showing  the  prisoner  to 
have  been  in  possession  of  both  motive  and  opportunities 


352  HAND   AND   RING. 

for  committing  this  crime,  he  is  guiltless  of  it ;  that  a 
physical  impossibility  stands  in  the  way  of  his  being  the 
assailant  of  the  Widow  Clemmens,  and  that  to  whomever 
or  whatsoever  her  death  may  be  due,  it  neither  was  nor 
could  have  been  the  result  of  any  blow  struck  by  the 
prisoner's  hand.  In  other  words,  we  dispute,  not  the 
facts  which  have  led  the  Prosecuting  Attorney  of  this 
district,  and  perhaps  others  also,  to  infer  guilt  on  the 
part  of  the  prisoner," — here  Mr.  Orcutt  cast  a  significant 
glance  at  the  bench  where  the  witnesses  sat, — "  but  the 
inference  itself.  Something  besides  proof  of  motive  and 
opportunity  must  be  urged  against  this  man  in  order  to 
convict  him  of  guilt.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  to  show  he  was 
on  the  scene  of  murder  some  time  during  the  fatal  morn- 
ing when  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  attacked  ;  you  must  prove 
he  was  there  at  the  time  the  deadly  blow  was  struck  ;  for 
it  is  not  with  him  as  with  so  many  against  whom  circum- 
stantial evidence  of  guilt  is  brought.  This  man,  gentle- 
men, has  an  answer  for  those  who  accuse  him  of  crime — 
an  answer,  too,  before  which  all  the  circumstantial  evi- 
dence in  the  world  cannot  stand.  Do  you  want  to  know 
what  it  is  ?  Give  me  but  a  moment's  attention  and  you 
shall  hear." 

Expectation,  which  had  been  rising  through  this  ex- 
ordium, now  stood  at  fever-point.  Byrd  and  Hickory 
held  their  breaths,  and  even  Miss  Dare  showed  feeling 
through  the  icy  restraint  which  had  hitherto  governed 
her  secret  anguish  and  suspense.     Mr.  Orcutt  went  on  : 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  353 

"  First,  however,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  prisoner 
desires  it  to  be  understood  that  he  has  no  intention  of 
disputing  the  various  facts  which  have  been  presented  be- 
fore you  at  this  trial.  He  does  not  deny  that  he  was  in 
great  need  of  money  at  the  time  of  his  aunt's  death  ;  that 
he  came  to  Sibley  to  entreat  her  to  advance  to  him  cer- 
tain sums  he  deemed  necessary  to  the  furtherance  of  his 
plans  ;  that  he  came  secretly  and  in  the  roundabout  way 
you  describe.  Neither  does  he  refuse  to  allow  that  his 
errand  was  also  one  of  love,  that  he  sought  and  obtained 
a  private  interview  with  the  woman  he  wished  to  make  his 
wife,  in  the  place  and  at  the  time  testified  to  ;  that  the 
scraps  of  conversation  which  have  been  sworn  to  as  hav- 
ing passed  between  them  at  this  interview  are  true  in  as 
far  as  they  go,  and  that  he  did  place  upon  the  finger  of 
Miss  Dare  a  diamond  ring.  Also,  he  admits  that  she  took 
this  ring  off  immediately  upon  receiving  it,  saying  she 
could  not  accept  it,  at  least  not  then,  and  that  she  en- 
treated him  to  take  it  back,  which  he  declined  to  do, 
though  he  cannot  say  she  did  not  restore  it  in  the  manner 
she  declares,  for  he  remembers  nothing  of  the  ring  after 
the  moment  he  put  her  hand  aside  as  she  was  offering  it 
back  to  him.  The  prisoner  also  allows  that  he  slept  in 
the  hut  and  remained  in  that  especial  region  of  the  woods 
until  near  noon  the  next  day  ;  but,  your  Honor  and  Gen- 
tlemen of  the  Jury,  what  the  prisoner  does  not  allow  and 
will  not  admit  is  that  he  struck  the  blow  which  eventually 
robbed  Mrs.  Clemmens  of  her  life,  and  the  proof  which  I 


354  HAND   AND    RING. 

propose  to  bring  forward  in  support  of  this  assertion  is 
this  : 

*'  Mrs.  Clemmens  received  the  blow  which  led  to  her 
death  at  some  time  previously  to  three  minutes  past 
twelve  o'clock  on  Tuesday,  September  26th.  This  the 
prosecution  has  already  proved.  Now,  what  I  propose  to 
show  is,  that  Mrs.  Clemmens,  however  or  whenever  as- 
sailed, was  still  living  and  unhurt  up  to  ten  minutes  be- 
fore twelve  on  that  same  day.  A  witness,  whom  you 
must  believe,  saw  her  at  that  time  and  conversed  with 
her,  proving  that  the  blow  by  which  she  came  to  her  death 
must  have  occurred  after  that  hour,  that  is,  after  ten  min- 
utes before  noon.  But,  your  Honor  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Jury,  the  prosecution  has  already  shown  that  the  prisoner 
stepped  on  to  the  train  at  Monteith  Quarry  Station  at 
twenty  minutes  past  one  of  that  same  day,  and  has  pro- 
duced witnesses  whose  testimony  positively  proves  that 
the  road  he  took  there  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  was 
the  same  he  had  traversed  in  his  secret  approach  to  it 
the  day  before — viz.,  the  path  through  the  woods  ;  the 
only  path,  I  may  here  state,  that  connects  those  two 
points  with  any  thing  like  directness. 

"  But,  Sirs,  what  the  prosecution  has  not  shown  you, 
and  what  it  now  devolves  upon  me  to  show,  is  that  this 
path  which  the  prisoner  is  allowed  to  have  taken  is  one 
which  no  man  could  traverse  without  encountering  great 
diflficulties  and  many  hindrances  to  speed.  It  is  not 
only  a  narrow  path  filled  with  various  encumbrances  in 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  355 

the  way  of  brambles  and  rolling  stones,  but  it  is  so 
flanked  by  an  impenetrable  undergrowth  in  some  places, 
and  by  low,  swampy  ground  in  others,  that  no  deviation 
from  its  course  is  possible,  while  to  keep  within  it  and 
follow  its  many  turns  and  windings  till  it  finally  emerges 
upon  the  highway  that  leads  to  the  Quarry  Station  would 
require  many  more  minutes  than  those  which  elapsed 
between  the  time  of  the  murder  and  the  hour  the  prisoner 
made  his  appearance  at  the  Quarry  Station.  In  other 
words,  I  propose  to  introduce  before  you  as  witnesses  two 
gentlemen  from  New  York,  both  of  whom  are  experts  in 
all  feats  of  pedestrianism,  and  who,  having  been  over  the 
road  themselves,  are  in  position  to  testify  that  the  time 
necessary  for  a  man  to  pass  by  means  of  this  path  from 
Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  to  the  Quarry  Station  is,  by  a 
definite  number  of  minutes,  greater  than  that  allowed  to 
the  prisoner  by  the  evidence  laid  before  you.  If,  there- 
fore, you  accept  the  testimony  of  the  prosecution  as 
true,  and  believe  that  the  prisoner  took  the  train  for 
Buffalo,  which  he  has  been  said  to  do,  it  follows,  as  a 
physical  impossibility,  for  him  to  have  been  at  Mrs. 
Clemmens'  cottage,  or  anywhere  else  except  on  the  road  to 
the  station,  at  the  moment  when  the  fatal  blow  was  dealt. 

"Your  Honor,  this  is  our  answer  to  the  terrible  charge 
which  has  been  made  against  the  prisoner  ;  it  is  simple, 
but  it  is  effective,  and  upon  it,  as  upon  a  rock,  we  found 
our  defence." 

And  with  a  bow,  Mr.  Orcutt  sat  down,  and,  it  being 
late  in  the  day,  the  court  adjourned. 


356  HAND   AND    RING. 


XXX. 

BYRD    USES    HIS   PENCIL    AGAIN. 

Ay,  sir,  you  shall  find  me  reasonable  ;  if  it  be  so,  I  shall  do  that  that  is 
reason. — Merry  Wives  of  Windsor- 

BYRD,  you  look  dazed." 
"  I  am." 

Hickory  paused  till  they  were  well  clear  of  the  crowd 
that  was  pouring  from  the  court-room  ;  then  he  said  : 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  this  as  a  defence  ?  " 

"I  am  beginning  to  think  it  is  good,"  was  the  slow, 
almost  hesitating,  reply. 

"  Beginning  to  think  ?  " 

"  Yes.  At  first  it  seemed  puerile.  I  had  such  a  stead- 
fast belief  in  Mansell's  guilt,  I  could  not  give  much  credit 
to  any  argument  tending  to  shake  me  loose  from  vny  con- 
victions. But  the  longer  I  think  of  it  the  more  vividly  1 
remember  the  difficulties  of  the  road  he  had  to  take  in 
his  flight.  I  have  travelled  it  myself,  you  remember,  and 
I  don't  see  how  he  could  have  got  over  the  ground  in 
ninety  minutes." 

Hickory's  face  assumed  a  somewhat  quizzical  expres- 
sion. 

"  Byrd,"  said  he,  "  whom  were  you  looking  at  during 
the  time  Mr.  Orcutt  was  making  his  speech  ?  " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  357 

"At  the  speaker,  of  course." 

"  Bah  !  " 

"  Whom  w&re  you  looking  at  ?  " 

"  At  the  person  who  would  be  likely  to  give  me  some 
return  for  my  pains." 

"  The  prisoner  ? " 

"No." 

"Whom,  then?" 

"  Miss  Dare." 

Byrd  shifted  uneasily  to  the  other  side  of  his  companion. 

"And  what  did  you  discover  from  her.  Hickory  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"  Two  things.  First,  that  she  knew  no  more  than  the 
rest  of  us  what  the  defence  was  going  to  be.  Secondly, 
that  she  regarded  it  as  a  piece  of  great  cleverness  on  the 
part  of  Orcutt,  but  that  she  did  n't  believe  in  it  any  more 
— well,  any  more  than  I  do." 

"  Hickory  !  " 

"Yes,  sir!  Miss  Dare  is  a  smart  woman,  and  a  reso- 
lute one,  and  could  have  baffled  the  penetration  of  all 
concerned  if  she  had  only  remembered  to  try.  But  she 
forgot  that  others  might  be  more  interested  in  making 
out  what  was  going  on  in  her  mind  at  this  critical  mo- 
ment than  in  watching  the  speaker  or  noting  the  effect  of 
his  words  upon  the  court.  In  fact,  she  was  too  eager  her- 
self to  hear  what  he  had  to  say  to  remember  her  role,  I 
fancy." 

"But,  I  don't  see "  began  Byrd. 


358  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Wait,"  interrupted  the  other.  "  You  believe  Miss 
Dare  loves  Craik  Mansell  ?  " 

"  Most  certainly,"  was  the  gloomy  response. 

"  Very  well,  then.  If  she  had  known  what  the  de- 
fence was  going  to  be  she  would  have  been  acutely  alive 
to  the  effect  it  was  going  to  have  upon  the  jury.  That 
would  have  been  her  first  thought  and  her  only  thought 
all  the  time  Mr.  Orcutt  was  speaking,  and  she  would  have 
sat  with  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the  men  upon  whose  accept- 
ance or  non-acceptance  of  the  truth  of  this  argument  her 
lover's  life  ultimately  depended.  But  no  ;  her  gaze,  like 
yours,  remained  fixed  upon  Mr.  Orcutt,  and  she  scarcely 
breathed  or  stirred  till  he  had  fully  revealed  what  his 
argument  was  going  to  be.     Then " 

"  Well,  then  ?  " 

"  Instead  of  flashing  with  the  joy  of  relief  which  any 
devoted  woman  would  experience  who  sees  in  this  argu- 
ment a  proof  of  her  lover's  innocence,  she  merely  dropped 
her  eyes  and  resumed  her  old  mask  of  impassiveness." 

**  From  all  of  which  you  gather " 

"  That  her  feelings  were  not  those  of  relief,  but  doubt. 
In  other  words,  that  the  knowledge  she  possesses  is  of  a 
character  which  laughs  to  scorn  any  such  subterfuge  of 
defence  as  Orcutt  advances." 

"  Hickory,"  ventured  Byrd,  after  a  long  silence,  "it  is 
time  we  understood  each  other.  What  is  your  secret 
thought  in  relation  to  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

"  My  secret  thought  ?    Well,"  drawled  the  other,  look- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  359 

ing  away,  "  I  think  she  knows  more  about  this  crime  than 
she  has  yet  chosen  to  reveal." 

"  More  than  she  evinced  to-day  in  her  testimony  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  I  should  like  to  know  why  you  think  so.  What 
special  reasons  have  you  for  drawing  any  such  conclu- 
sions ?" 

"  Well,  one  reason  is,  that  she  was  no  more  shaken  by 
the  plausible  argument  advanced  by  Mr,  Orcutt.  If  her 
knowledge  of  the  crime  was  limited  to  what  she  acknowl- 
edged in  her  testimony,  and  her  conclusions  as  to  Man- 
sell's  guilt  were  really  founded  upon  such  facts  as  she 
gave  us  in  court  to-day,  why  did  n't  she  grasp  at  the  pos- 
sibility of  her  lover's  innocence  which  was  held  out  to  her 
by  his  counsel  ?  No  facts  that  she  had  testified  to,  not 
even  the  fact  of  his  ring  having  been  found  on  the  scene 
of  murder,  could  stand  before  the  proof  that  he  left  the 
region  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  before  the  moment  of 
assault  ;  yet,  while  evincing  interest  in  the  argument,  and 
some  confidence  in  it,  too,  as  one  that  would  be  likely  to 
satisfy  the  jury,  she  gave  no  tokens  of  being  surprised  by 
it  into  a  reconsideration  of  her  own  conclusions,  as  must 
have  happened  if  she  told  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth,  when  she  was  on  the  stand  to- 
day." 

"  I  see,"  remarked  Byrd,  "  that  you  are  presuming  to 
understand  Miss  Dare  after  all." 

Hickory  smiled. 


360  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  You  call  this  woman  a  mystery,"  proceeded  Byrd  ; 
"hint  at  great  possibilities  of  acting  on  her  part,  and  yet 
in  a  moment,  as  it  were,  profess  yourself  the  reader  of  her 
inmost  thoughts,  and  the  interpreter  of  looks  and  ex- 
pressions she  has  manifestly  assumed  to  hide  those 
thoughts." 

Hickory's  smile  broadened  into  a  laugh. 

"Just  so,"  he  cried.  "One's  imbecility  has  to  stop 
somewhere."  Then,  as  he  saw  Byrd  look  grave,  added  : 
"  I  have  n't  a  single  fact  at  my  command  that  is  n't 
shared  by  you.     My  conclusions  are  different,  that  is  all." 

Horace  Byrd  did  not  answer.  Perhaps  if  Hickory 
could  have  sounded  his  thoughts  he  would  have  dis- 
covered that  their  conclusions  were  not  so  far  apart  as  he 
imagined. 

"  Hickory,"  Byrd  at  last  demanded,  "what  do  you  pro- 
pose to  do  with  your  conclusions  ?  " 

"  I  propose  to  wait  and  see  if  Mr.  Orcutt  proves  his 
case.  If  he  don't,  I  have  nothing  more  to  say  ;  but  if  he 
does,  I  think  I  shall  call  the  attention  of  Mr.  Ferris  to 
one  question  he  has  omitted  to  ask  Miss  Dare." 

"  And  what  is  that  ?  " 

"  Where  she  was  on  the  morning  of  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
murder.  You  remember  you  took  some  interest  in  that 
question  yourself  a  while  ago." 

"But " 

'*  Not  that  I  think  any  thing  will  come  of  it,  only  my 
conscience  will  be  set  at  rest." 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  36I 

"  Hickory," — Byrd's  face  had  quite  altered  now — 
"  where  do  you  think  Miss  Dare  was  at  that  time  ?  " 

"Where  do  I  think  she  was?"  repeated  Hickory. 
"  Well,  I  will  tell  you.  I  think  she  was  not  in  Professor 
Darling's  observatory." 

"  Do  you  think  she  was  in  the  glade  back  of  Widow 
Clemmens'  house  ? " 

"  Now  you  ask  me  conundrums." 

"  Hickory ! "  Byrd  spoke  almost  violently,  "  Mr. 
Orcutt  shall  not  prove  his  case." 

"  No  ?  " 

"  I  will  make  the  run  over  the  ground  supposed  to 
have  been  taken  by  Mansell  in  his  flight,  and  show  in 
my  own  proper  person  that  it  can  be  done  in  the  time 
specified." 

Hickory's  eye,  which  had  taken  a  rapid  survey  of  his 
companion's  form  during  the  utterance  of  the  above, 
darkened,  then  he  slowly  shook  his  head. 

"You  could  n't,"  he  rejoined  laconically.  "  Too  little 
staying  power  ;  you  'd  give  out  before  you  got  clear  of 
the  woods.     Better  delegate  the  job  to  me." 

"To  you?" 

"  Yes.  I  'm  of  the  make  to  stand  long  runs  ;  besides  I 
am  no  novice  at  athletic  sports  of  any  kind.  More  than 
one  race  has  owed  its  interest  to  the  efforts  of  your  hum- 
ble servant.  'T  is  my  pet  amusement,  you  see,  as  off-hand 
drawing  is  yours,  and  is  likely  to  be  of  as  much  use  to 
me,  eh  ? " 


362  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Hickory,  you  are  chaffing  me." 

"  Think  so  ?  Do  you  see  that  five-barred  gate  over 
there  ?  Well,  now  keep  your  eye  on  the  top  rail  and  see 
if  I  clear  it  without  a  graze  or  not." 

"'  Stop  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Byrd,  "  don't  make  a  fool  of 
yourself  in  the  public  street.  I  '11  believe  you  if  you  say 
you  understand  such  things." 

"  Well,  I  do,  and  what  is  more,  I  'm  an  adept  at  them. 
If  I  can't  make  that  run  in  the  time  requisite  to  show  that 
Mansell  could  have  committed  the  murder,  and  yet  ar- 
rive at  the  station  the  moment  he  did,  I  don't  know  of  a 
chap  who  can." 

"  Hickory,  do  you  mean  to  say  you  will  make  this 
run  ? " 

"  Yes." 

"With  a  conscientious  effort  to  prove  that  Orcutt's 
scheme  of  defence  is  false  ?  " 

''Yes." 

"  When  ? " 

"  To-morrow." 

"  While  we  are  in  court  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

Byrd  turned  square  around,  gave  Hickory  a  look  and 
offered  his  hand. 

"  You  are  a  good  fellow,"  he  declared,  "May  luck  go 
with  you." 

Hickory  suddenly  became  unusually  thoughtful. 

"A  little  while  ago,"  he  reflected,  "  this  fellow's  sympa- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  363 

thies  were  all  with  Mansell ;  now  he  would  risk  my  limbs 
and  neck  to  have  the  man  proved  guilty.  He  does  not 
wish  Miss  Dare  to  be  questioned  again,  I  see." 

"  Hickory,"  resumed  Byrd,  a  few  minutes  later,  "  Or- 
cutt  has  not  rested  the  defence  upon  this  one  point  with- 
out being  very  sure  of  its  being  unassailable." 

"  I  know  that." 

"  He  has  had  more  than  one  expert  make  that  run  dur- 
ing the  weeks  that  have  elapsed  since  the  murder.  It  has 
been  tested  to  the  uttermost." 

"I  know  that." 

"  If  you  succeed  then  in  doing  what  none  of  these 
others  have,  it  must  be  by  dint  of  a  better  understanding 
of  the  route  you  have  to  take  and  the  difficulties  you  will 
have  to  overcome.     Now,  do  you  understand  the  route  ?" 

"  I  think  so." 

"  You  will  have  to  start  from  the  widow's  door,  you 
know  ?" 

"Certain." 

"  Cross  the  bog,  enter  the  woods,  skirt  the  hut — but  I 
won't  go  into  details.  The  best  way  to  prove  you  know 
exactly  what  you  have  to  do  is  to  see  if  you  can  describe 
the  route'  yourself.  Come  into  my  room,  old  fellow,  and 
let  us  see  if  you  can  give  me  a  sufficiently  exact  account 
of  the  ground  you  will  have  to  pass  over,  for  me  to  draw 
up  a  chart  by  it.  An  hour  spent  with  paper  and  pencil 
to-night  may  save  you  from  an  uncertainty  to-morrow 
that  would  lose  you  a  good  ten  minutes." 


364  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Good  !  that  's  an  idea  ;  let 's  try  it,"  rejoined  Hick- 
ory. 

And  being  by  this  time  at  the  hotel,  they  went  in.  In 
another  moment  they  were  shut  up  in  Mr.  Byrd's  room, 
with  a  large  sheet  of  foolscap  before  them. 

"  Now,"  cried  Horace,  taking  up  a  pencil,  "  begin  with 
your  description,  and  I  will  follow  with  my  drawing." 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Hickory,  setting  himself  forward 
in  a  way  to  watch  his  colleague's  pencil.  "  I  leave  the 
widow's  house  by  the  dining-room  door — a  square  for  the 
house,  Byrd,  well  down  in  the  left-hand  corner  of  the 
paper,  and  a  dotted  line  for  the  path  I  take, — run  down 
the  yard  to  the  fence,  leap  it,  cross  the  bog,  and  make 
straight  for  the  woods." 

"  Very  good,"  commented  Byrd,  sketching  rapidly  as 
the  other  spoke. 

"  Having  taken  care  to  enter  where  the  trees  are  thin- 
nest, I  find  a  path  along  which  I  rush  in  a  bee-line  till  I 
come  to  the  glade — an  ellipse  for  the  glade,  Byrd,  with  a 
dot  in  it  for  the  hut.  Merely  stopping  to  dash  into  the 
hut  and  out  again " 

"  Wait  !  "  put  in  Byrd,  pausing  with  his  pencil  in  mid- 
air ;  "  what  did  you  want  to  go  into  the  hut  for  ?  " 

"To  get  the  bag  which  I  propose  to  leave  there  to- 
night." 

"Bag?" 

"  Yes  ;  Mansell  carried  a  bag,  did  n't  he  ?  Don't  you 
remember  what  the  station-master  said  about  the  curious 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  365 

portmanteau  the  fellow  had  in  his  hand  when  he  came  to 
the  station  ?  " 

"  Yes,  but " 

"  Byrd,  if  I  run  that  fellow  to  his  death  it  must  be 
fairly.  A  man  with  an  awkward  bag  in  his  hand  cannot 
run  like  a  man  without  one.  So  I  handicap  myself  in  the 
same  way  he  did,  do  you  see?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Very  well,  then  ;  I  rush  into  the  hut,  pick  up  the  bag, 
carry  it  out,  and  dash  immediately  into  the  woods  at  the 
opening  behind  the  hut. — What  are  you  doing  ?  " 

"  Just  putting  in  a  few  landmarks,"  explained  Byrd, 
who  had  run  his  pencil  off  in  an  opposite  direction. 
"  See,  that  is  the  path  to  West  Side  which  I  followed  in 
my  first  expedition  through  the  woods — the  path,  too, 
which  Miss  Dare  took  when  she  came  to  the  hut  at  the 
time  of  the  fearful  thunderstorm.  And  wait,  let  me  put 
in  Professor  Darling's  house,  too,  and  the  ridge  from 
which  you  can  see  Mrs.  Clemmens*  cottage.  It  will  help 
us  to  understand " 

"  What  ?  "  cried  Hickory,  with  quick  suspiciousness,  as 
the  other  paused. 

But  Byrd,  impatiently  shaking  his  head,  answered  : 

"  The  whole  situation,  of  course."  Then,  pointing 
hastily  back  to  the  hut,  exclaimed  :  "  So  you  have  entered 
the  woods  again  at  this  place  ?     Very  well ;  what  then  ?  " 

"  Well,  then,"  resumed  Hickory,  "  I  make  my  way 
along  the  path  I  find  there — run  it  at  right  angles  to  the 


366  HAND   AND   RING. 

one  leading  up  to  the  glade — till  I  come  to  a  stony  ledge 
covered  with  blackberry  bushes.  (A  very  cleverly  drawn 
blackberry  patch  that,  Byrd.)  Here  I  fear  I  shall  have  to 
pause." 

"Why?" 

"  Because,  deuce  take  me  if  I  can  remember  where  the 
path  runs  after  that." 

"  But  I  can.  A  big  hemlock-tree  stands  just  at  the 
point  where  the  woods  open  again.  Make  for  that  and 
you  will  be  all  right." 

"  Good  enough  ;  but  it  's  mighty  rough  travelling  over 
that  ledge,  and  I  shall  have  to  go  at  a  foot's  pace.  The 
stones  are  slippery  as  glass,  and  a  fall  would  scarcely  be 
conducive  to  the  final  success  of  my  scheme." 

"  I  will  make  the  path  serpentine." 

"  That  will  be  highly  expressive." 

"  And  now,  what  next  ?  " 

"  The  Foresters'  Road,  Byrd,  upon  which  I  ought  to 
come  about  this  time.  Run  it  due  east  and  west — not 
that  I  have  surveyed  the  ground,  but  it  looks  more 
natural  so — and  let  the  dotted  line  traverse  it  toward  the 
right,  for  that  is  the  direction  in  which  I  shall  go." 

"  It  's  done,"  said  Byrd. 

"  Well,  description  fails  me  now.  All  I  know  is,  I 
come  out  on  a  hillside  running  straight  down  to  the 
river-bank  and  that  the  highway  is  visible  beyond, 
leading  directly  to  the  station  ;  but  the  way  to  get  to 
it " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  367 

**  I  will  show  you,"  interposed  Byrd,  mapping  out  the 
station  and  the  intervening  river  with  a  few  quick  strokes 
of  his  dexterous  pencil.  "  You  see  this  point  where  you 
issue  from  the  woods  ?  Very  good  ;  it  is,  as  you  say,  on 
a  hillside  overlooking  the  river.  Well,  it  seems  unfortu- 
nate, but  there  is  no  way  of  crossing  that  river  at  this 
point.  The  falls  above  and  below  make  it  no  place  for 
boats,  and  you  will  have  to  go  back  along  its  banks  for 
some  little  distance  before  you  come  to  a  bridge.  But 
there  is  no  use  in  hesitating  or  looking  about  for  a 
shorter  path.  The  woods  just  here  are  encumbered  with 
a  mass  of  tangled  undergrowth  which  make  them  simply 
impassable  except  as  you  keep  in  the  road,  while  the 
river  curves  so  frequently  and  with  so  much  abruptness 
— see,  I  will  endeavor  to  give  you  some  notion  of  it  here 
— that  you  would  only  waste  time  in  attempting  to  make 
any  short  cuts.     But,  once  over  the  bridge " 

"  I  have  only  to  foot  it,"  burst  in  Hickory,  taking  up 
the  sketch  which  the  other  had  now  completed,  and 
glancing  at  it  with  a  dubious  eye.  "  Do  you  know, 
Byrd,"  he  remarked  in  another  moment,  "  that  it  strikes 
me  Mansell  did  not  take  this  roundabout  road  to  the 
station  ? " 

"Why?" 

"  Because  it  is  so  roundabout,  and  he  is  such  a  clear- 
headed fellow.  Could  n't  he  have  got  there  by  some 
shorter  cut  ? " 

"  No.     Don't  you  remember  how  Orcutt  cross-exam- 


368  HAND   AND    RING. 

ined  the  station-master  about  the  ai)pearance  which 
Mansell  presented  when  he  came  upon  the  platform, 
and  how  that  person  was  forced  to  acknowledge  that, 
although  the  prisoner  looked  heated  and  exhausted,  his 
clothes  were  neither  muddied  nor  torn  ?  Now,  I  did  not 
think  of  it  at  the  time,  but  this  was  done  by  Orcatt  to 
prove  that  Mansell  did  take  the  road  I  have  jotted  down 
here,  since  any  other  would  have  carried  him  through 
swamps  knee-deep  with  mud,  or  amongst  stones  and 
briers  which  would  have  put  him  in  a  state  of  disorder 
totally  unfitting  him  for  travel." 

"  That  is  so,"  acquiesced  Hickory,  after  a  moment's 
thought.  "  Mansell  must  be  kept  in  the  path.  Well, 
well,  we  will  see  to-morrow  if  wit  and  a  swift  foot  can 
make  any  thing  out  of  this  problem." 

"  Wit  ?  Hickory,  it  7vill  be  wit  and  not  a  swift  foot. 
Or  luck,  maybe  I  should  call  it,  or  rather  provi- 
dence. If  a  wagon  should  be  going  along  the  highway, 
now " 

"  Let  me  alone  for  availing  myself  of  it,"  laughed 
Hickory.  "  Wagon  !  I  would  jump  oil  the  back  of  a 
mule  sooner  than  lose  the  chance  of  gaining  a  minute  on 
these  experts  whose  testimony  we  are  to  hear  to-morrow. 
Don't  lose  confidence  in  old  Hickory  yet.  He  's  the  boy 
for  this  job  if  he  is  n't  for  any  other." 

And  so  the  matter  was  settled. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  369 


XXXI. 

THE   CHIEF    WITNESS    FOR    THE    DEFENCE. 
Your  If  is  the  only  peace-maker  ;  much  virtue  in  If. — As  You  Like  It. 

THE  crowd  that  congregated  at  the  court-house  the 
next  morning  was  even  greater  than  at  any  pre- 
vious time.  The  opening  speech  of  Mr.  Orcutt  had  been 
telegraphed  all  over  the  country,  and  many  who  had  not 
been  specially  interested  in  the  case  before  felt  an  anxi- 
ety to  hear  how  he  would  substantiate  the  defence  he  had 
so  boldly  and  confidently  put  forth. 

To  the  general  eye,  however,  the  appearance  of  the 
court-room  was  much  the  same  as  on  the  previous  day. 
Only  to  the  close  observer  was  it  evident  that  the  counte- 
nances of  the  several  actors  in  this  exciting  drama  wore  a 
different  expression.  Mr.  Byrd,  who  by  dint  of  the  most 
energetic  effort  had  succeeded  in  procuring  his  old  seat, 
was  one  of  these,  and  as  he  noted  the  significant  change, 
wished  that  Hickory  had  been  at  his  side  to  note  it  with 
him. 

The  first  person  he  observed  was,  naturally,  the  Judge, 

Judge  Evans,  who  has  been  but  barely  introduced  to 

the  reader,  was  a  man  of  great  moral  force  and  discretion. 

He  had  occupied  his  present  position  for  many  years,  and 


370  HAND   AND   RING. 

possessed  not  only  the  confidence  but  the  affections  of 
those  who  came  within  the  sphere  of  his  jurisdiction. 
The  reason  for  this  undoubtedly  liy  in  his  sympathetic 
nature.  While  never  accused  of  weakness,  he  so  unmis- 
takably retained  the  feeling  heart  under  the  official  er- 
mine that  it  was  by  no  means  an  uncommon  thing  for  him 
to  show  more  emotion  in  uttering  a  sentence  than  the 
man  he  condemned  did  in  listening  to  it. 

His  expression,  then,  upon  this  momentous  morning 
was  of  great  significance  to  Mr.  Byrd.  In  its  hopefulness 
and  cheer  was  written  the  extent  of  the  effect  made  upon 
the  unprejudiced  mind  by  the  promised  defence. 

As  for  Mr.  Orcutt  himself,  no  advocate  could  display  a 
more  confident  air  or  prepare  to  introduce  his  witnesses 
with  more  dignity  or  quiet  assurance.  His  self-possession 
was  so  marked,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Byrd,  who  felt  a  sympa- 
thetic interest  in  what  he  knew  to  be  seething  in  this 
man's  breast,  was  greatly  surprised,  and  surveyed,  with  a 
feeling  almost  akin  to  awe,  the  lawyer  who  could  so  sink 
all  personal  considerations  in  the  cause  he  was  trying. 

Miss  Dare,  on  the  contrary,  was  in  a  state  of  nervous 
agitation.  Though  no  movement  betrayed  this,  the  very 
force  of  the  restraint  she  put  upon  herself  showed  the 
extent  of  her  inner  excitement. 

The  prisoner  alone  remained  unchanged.  Nothing 
could  shake  his  steady  soul  from  its  composure,  not  the 
possibility  of  death  or  the  prospect  of  release.  He  was 
absolutely  imposing  in  his  quiet  presence,  and  Mr.  Byrd 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  37I 

could  not  but  admire  the  power  of  the  man  even  while 
recoiling  from  his  supposed  guilt. 

The  opening  of  the  defence  carried  the  minds  of  many 
back  to  the  inquest.  The  nice  question  of  time  was  gone 
into,  and  the  moment  when  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  found 
lying  bleeding  and  insensible  at  the  foot  of  her  dining- 
room  clock,  fixed  at  three  or  four  minutes  past  noon. 
The  next  point  to  be  ascertained  was  when  she  received 
the  deadly  blow. 

And  here  the  great  surprise  of  the  defence  occurred. 
Mr.  Orcutt  rose,  and  in  clear,  firm  tones  said  : 

"  Gouverneur  Hildreth,  take  the  stand." 

Instantly,  and  before  the  witness  could  comply,  Mr. 
Ferris  was  on  his  feet. 

"Who  ?  what  ?  "  he  cried. 

"  Gouverneur  Hildreth,"  repeated  Mr.  Orcutt. 

"  Did  you  know  this  gentleman  has  already  been  in 
custody  upon  suspicion  of  having  committed  the  crime 
for  which  the  prisoner  is  now  being  tried  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  returned  Mr.  Orcutt,  with  imperturbable  sang 
froid. 

"  And  is  it  your  intention  to  save  your  client  from  the 
gallows  by  putting  the  halter  around  the  neck  of  the  man 
you  now  propose  to  call  as  a  witness  ?  " 

"  No,"  retorted  Mr.  Orcutt  ;  "  /  do  not  propose  to  put 
the  halter  about  any  man's  neck.  That  is  the  proud 
privilege  of  my  learned  and  respected  opponent." 

With   an  impatient  frown   Mr.  Ferris  sat  down,  while 


372  HAND   AND   RING. 

Mr.  Hildreth,  who  had  taken  advantage  of  this  short  pas- 
sage of  arms  between  the  lawyers  to  retain  his  place  in 
the  remote  corner  where  he  was  more  or  less  shielded 
from  the  curiosity  of  the  crowd,  rose,  and,  with  a  slow 
and  painful  movement  that  at  once  attracted  attention  to 
his  carefully  bandaged  throat  and  the  general  air  of 
debility  which  surrounded  him,  came  hesitatingly  for- 
ward and  took  his  stand  in  face  of  the  judge  and  jury. 

Necessarily  a  low  murmur  greeted  him  from  the  throng 
of  interested  spectators  who  saw  in  this  appearance  be- 
fore them  of  the  man  who,  by  no  more  than  a  hair's- 
breadth,  had  escaped  occupying  the  position  of  the 
prisoner,  another  of  those  dramatic  incidents  with  which 
this  trial  seemed  fairly  to  bristle. 

It  was  hushed  by  one  look  from  the  Judge,  but  not 
before  it  had  awakened  in  Mr.  Hildreth's  weak  and 
sensitive  nature  those  old  emotions  of  shame  and  rage 
whose  token  was  a  flush  so  deep  and  profuse  it  uncon- 
sciously repelled  the  gaze  of  all  who  beheld  it.  Immedi- 
ately Mr.  Byrd,  who  sat  with  bated  breath,  as  it  were,  so 
intense  was  his  excitement  over  the  unexpected  turn  of 
affairs,  recognized  the  full  meaning  of  the  situation,  and 
awarded  to  Mr.  Orcutt  all  the  admiration  which  his 
skill  in  bringing  it  about  undoubtedly  deserved.  In- 
deed, as  the  detective's  quick  glance  flashed  first  at  the 
witness,  cringing  in  his  old  unfortunate  way  before  the 
gaze  of  the  crowd,  and  then  at  the  prisoner  sitting  un- 
moved and   quietly  disdainful  in  his  dignity  and  pride. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  373 

he  felt  that,  whether  Mr,  Orcutt  succeeded  in  getting 
all  he  wished  from  his  witness,  the  mere  conjunction  of 
these  two  men  before  the  jury,  with  the  opportunity 
for  comparison  between  them  which  it  inevitably  offered, 
was  the  master-stroke  of  this  eminent  lawyer's  legal 
career. 

Mr.  Ferris  seemed  to  feel  the  significance  of  the 
moment  also,  for  his  eyes  fell  and  his  brow  contracted 
with  a  sudden  doubt  that  convinced  Mr.  Byrd  that, 
mentally,  he  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up  his  case. 

The  witness  was  at  once  sworn. 

"  Orcutt  believes  Hildreth  to  be  the  murderer,  or,  at 
least,  is  willing  that  others  should  be  impressed  with  this 
belief,"  was  the  comment  of  Byrd  to  himself  at  this 
juncture. 

He  had  surprised  a  look  which  had  passed  between 
the  lawyer  and  Miss  Dare — a  look  of  such  piercing 
sarcasm  and  scornful  inquiry  that  it  might  well  arrest  the 
detective's  attention  and  lead  him  to  question  the  in- 
tentions of  the  man  who  could  allow  such  an  expression 
of  his  feelings  to  escape  him. 

But  whether  the  detective  was  correct  in  his  inferences, 
or  whether  Mr.  Orcutt's  glance  at  Imogene  meant  no 
more  than  the  natural  emotion  of  a  man  who  suddenly 
sees  revealed  to  the  woman  he  loves  the  face  of  him  for 
whose  welfare  she  has  expressed  the  greatest  concern  and 
for  whose  sake,  while  unknown,  she  has  consented  to 
make  the  heaviest  of  sacrifices,  the  wary  lawyer  was  care- 


374  HAND   AND    RING. 

ful  to  show  neither  scorn  nor  prejudice  when  he  turned 
toward  the  witness  and  began  his  interrogations. 

On  the  contrary,  his  manner  was  highly  respectful,  if 
not  considerate,  and  his  questions  while  put  with  such 
art  as  to  keep  the  jury  constantly  alert  to  the  anomalous 
position  which  the  witness  undoubtedly  held,  were  of  a 
nature  mainly  to  call  forth  the  one  fact  for  which  his 
testimony  was  presumably  desired.  This  was,  his  pres- 
ence in  the  widow's  house  on  the  morning  of  the  murder, 
and  the  fact  that  he  saw  her  and  conversed  with  her  and 
could  swear  to  her  being  alive  and  unhurt  up  to  a  few 
minutes  before  noon.  To  be  sure,  the  precise  minute  of 
his  leaving  her  in  this  condition  Mr.  Orcutt  failed  to 
gather  from  the  witness,  but,  like  the  coroner  at  the  in- 
quest, he  succeeded  in  eliciting  enough  to  show  that  the 
visit  had  been  completed  prior  to  the  appearance  of  the 
tramp  at  the  widow's  kitchen-door,  as  it  had  been  begun 
after  the  disappearance  of  the  Danton  children  from  the 
front  of  the  widow's  house. 

This  fact  being  established  and  impressed  upon  the 
jury,  Mr.  Orcutt  with  admirable  judgment  cut  short  his 
own  examination  of  the  witness,  and  passed  him  over  to 
the  District  Attorney,  with  a  grim  smile,  suggestive  of  his 
late  taunt,  that  to  this  gentleman  belonged  the  special 
privilege  of  weaving  halters  for  the  necks  of  unhappy 
criminals. 

Mr.  Ferris  who  understood  his  adversary's  tactics  only 
too  well,  but  who  in  his  anxiety  for  the  truth  could  not 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  375 

afford  to  let  such  an  opportunity  for  reaching  it  slip  by, 
opened  his  cross-examination  with  great  vigor. 

The  result  could  not  but  be  favorable  to  the  defence 
and  damaging  to  the  prosecution.  The  position  which 
Mr.  Hildreth  must  occupy  if  the  prisoner  was  acquitted, 
was  patent  to  all  understandings,  making  each  and  every 
admission  on  his  part  tending  to  exculpate  the  latter,  of 
a  manifest  force  and  significance. 

Mr.  Ferris,  however,  was  careful  not  to  exceed  his  duty 
or  press  his  inquiries  beyond  due  bounds.  The  man 
they  were  trying  was  not  Gouverneur  Hildreth  but  Craik 
Mansell,  and  to  press  the  witness  too  close,  was  to  urge 
him  into  admissions  seemingly  so  damaging  to  himself  as, 
in  the  present  state  of  affairs,  to  incur  the  risk  of  distract- 
ing attention  entirely  from  the  prisoner. 

Mr.  Hildreth's  examination  being  at  an  end,  Mr. 
Orcutt  proceeded  with  his  case,  by  furnishing  proof  cal- 
culated to  fix  the  moment  at  which  Mr.  Hildreth  had 
made  his  call.  This  was  done  in  much  the  same  way  as 
it  was  at  the  inquest.  Mrs.  Clemmens'  next-door  neigh- 
bor, Mrs.  Danton,  was  summoned  to  the  stand,  and  after 
her  her  two  children,  the  testimony  of  the  three,  taken 
with  Mr.  Hildreth's  own  acknowledgments,  making  it 
very  evident  to  all  who  listened  that  he  could  not  have 
gone  into  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  before  a  quarter  to 
twelve. 

The  natural  inference  followed.  Allowing  the  least 
possible  time  for  his  interview  with  Mrs.  Clemmens,  the 


376  HAND   AND   RING. 

moment  at  which  the  witness  swore  to  having  seen  her 
alive  and  unhurt  must  have  been  as  late  as  ten  minutes 
before  noon. 

Taking  pains  to  impress  this  time  upon  the  jury,  Mr. 
Orcutt  next  proceeded  to  fix  the  moment  at  which  the 
prisoner  arrived  at  Monteith  Quarry  Station.  As  the 
fact  of  his  having  arrived  in  time  to  take  the  afternoon 
train  to  Buffalo  had  been  already  proved  by  the  prosecu- 
tion, it  was  manifestly  necessary  only  to  determine  at 
what  hour  the  train  was  due,  and  whether  it  had  come  in 
on  time. 

The  hour  was  ascertained,  by  direct  consultation  with 
the  road's  time-table,  to  be  just  <^wenty  minutes  past  one, 
and  the  station-master  having  been  called  to  the  stand, 
gave  it  as  his  best  knowledge  and  belief  that  the  train  had 
been  on  time. 

This,  however,  not  being  deemed  explicit  enough  for 
the  purposes  of  the  defence,  there  was  submitted  to  the 
jury  a  telegram  bearing  the  date  of  that  same  day,  and 
distinctly  stating  that  the  train  was  on  time.  This  was 
testified  to  by  the  conductor  of  the  train  as  having  been 
sent  by  him  to  the  superintendent  of  the  road  who  was 
awaiting  the  cars  at  Monteith  ;  and  was  received  as  evi- 
dence and  considered  as  conclusively  fixing  the  hour  at 
which  the  prisoner  arrived  at  the  Quarry  Station  as 
twenty  minutes  past  one. 

TJds  settled,  witnesses  were  called  to  testify  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  path  by  which  he  must  have  travelled  from 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  377 

the  widow's  house  to  the  station.  A  chart  similar  to  that 
Mr.  Byrd  had  drawn,  but  more  explicit  and  nice  in  its 
details,  was  submitted  to  the  jury  by  an  actual  surveyor 
of  the  ground  ;  after  which,  and  the  establishment  of 
other  minor  details  not  necessary  to  enumerate  here,  a 
man  of  well-known  proficiency  in  running  and  other 
athletic  sports,  was  summoned  to  the  stand. 

Mr.  Byrd,  who  up  to  this  moment  had  shared  in  the 
interest  every  where  displayed  in  the  defence,  now  felt 
his  attention  wandering.  The  fact  is,  he  had  heard  the 
whistle  of  the  train  on  which  Hickory  had  promised  to 
return  to  Sibley,  and  interesting  as  was  the  testimony 
given  by  the  witness,  he  could  not  prevent  his  eyes  from 
continually  turning  toward  the  door  by  which  he  expected 
Hickory  to  enter. 

Strange  to  say,  Mr.  Orcutt  seemed  to  take  a  like  inter- 
est in  that  same  door,  and  was  more  than  once  detected 
by  Byrd  flashing  a  hurried  glance  in  its  direction,  as  if  he, 
too,  were  on  the  look-out  for  some  one. 

Meantime  the  expert  in  running  was  saying  : 

"  It  took  me  one  hundred  and  twenty  minutes  to  go 
over  the  ground  the  first  time,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  minutes  the  next.  I  gained  five  minutes  the  sec- 
ond time,  you  see,"  he  explained,  "by  knowingmy  ground 
better  and  by  saving  my  strength  where  it  was  of  no  avail 
to  attempt  great  speed.  The  last  time  I  made  the  effort, 
however,  I  lost  three  minutes  on  my  former  time.  The 
wood  road  which   I  had  to  take  for  some  distance  was 


378  HAND   AND   RING. 

deep  with  mud,  and  my  feet  sank  with  every  step.  The 
shortest  time,  then,  which  I  was  able  to  make  in  three 
attempts,  was  one  hundred  and  fifteen  minutes." 

Now,  as  the  time  between  the  striking  of  the  fatal  blow 
and  the  hour  at  which  the  prisoner  arrived  at  the  Quarry 
Station  was  only  ninety  minutes,  a  general  murmur  of 
satisfaction  followed  this  announcement.  It  was  only 
momentary,  however,  for  Mr.  Ferris,  rising  to  cross-ex- 
amine the  witness,  curiosity  prevailed  over  all  lesser  emo- 
tions, and  an  immediate  silence  followed  without  the 
intervention  of  the  Court. 

"  Did  you  make  these  three  runs  from  Mrs.  Clemmens* 
house  to  Monteith  Quarry  Station  entirely  on  foot  ?  " 

"  I  did,  sir." 

'*  Was  that  necessary  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  as  far  as  the  highway,  at  least.  The  path 
through  the  woods  is  not  wide  enough  for  a  horse,  unless 
it  be  for  that  short  distance  where  the  Foresters'  Road 
intervenes." 

"  And  you  ran  there  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  twice  at  full  speed  ;  the  third  time  I  had  the 
experience  I  have  told  you  of." 

"  And  how  long  do  you  think  it  took  you  to  go  over 
that  especial  portion  of  ground  ?  " 

"  Five  minutes,  maybe." 

"  And,  supposing  you  had  had  a  horse  ? " 

"  Well,  sir,  i/  I  had  had  a  horse,  and  (/  he  had  been 
waiting  there,  all  ready  for  me  to  jump  on  his  back,  and 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  379 

if  he  had  been  a  good  runner  and  used  to  the  road,  I 
think  I  could  have  gone  over  it  in  two  minutes,  if  I  had 
not  first  broken  my  neck  on  some  of  the  jagged  stones 
that  roughen  the  road." 

"  In  other  words,  you  could  have  saved  three  minutes 
if  you  had  been  furnished  with  a  horse  at  that  particular 
spot  ?  " 

"Yes,//-." 

Mr.  Orcutt,  whose  eye  had  been  fixed  upon  the  door  at 
this  particular  juncture,  now  looked  back  at  the  witness 
and  hurriedly  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  Has  my  esteemed  friend  any  testimony  on  hand  to 
prove  that  the  prisoner  had  a  horse  at  this  place  ?  if  he 
has  not,  I  object  to  these  questions." 

"  W.hat  testimony  I  have  to  produce  will  come  in  at  its 
proper  time,"  retorted  Mr.  Ferris.  "  Meanwhile,  I  think 
I  have  a  right  to  put  this  or  any  other  kind  of  similar 
question  to  the  witness." 

The  Judge  acquiescing  with  a  nod,  Mr.  Orcutt  sat 
down. 

Mr.  Ferris  went  on. 

"  Did  you  meet  any  one  on  the  road  during  any  of 
these  three  runs  which  you  made  ?" 

"  No,  sir.  That  is,  I  met  no  one  in  the  woods.  There 
were  one  or  two  persons  on  the  highway  the  last  time  I 
ran  over  it." 

''  Were  they  riding  or  walking  ?" 

"  Walking." 


380  HAND   AND    RING. 

Here  Mr.  Orcutt  interposed. 

"  Did  you  say  that  in  passing  over  the  highway  you 
ran  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Why  did  you  do  this  ?  Had  you  not  been  told  that 
the  prisoner  was  seen  to  be  walking  when  he  came  down 
the  road  to  the  station  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.     But  I  was  in  for  time,  you  see." 

"  And  you  did  not  make  it  even  with  that  advan- 
tage ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

The  second  expert  had  the  same  story  to  tell,  with  a 
few  variations.  He  had  made  one  of  his  runs  in  five 
minutes  less  than  the  other  had  done,  but  it  was  by  a 
great  exertion  that  left  him  completely  exhausted  when 
he  arrived  at  the  station.  It  was  during  his  cross- 
examination  that  Hickory  at  last  came  in. 

Horace  Byrd,  who  had  been  growing  very  impatient 
during  the  last  few  minutes,  happened  to  be  looking  at 
the  door  when  it  opened  to  admit  this  late  comer.  So 
was  Mr.  Orcutt.  But  Byrd  did  not  notice  this,  or  Hick- 
ory either.  If  they  had,  perhaps  Hickory  would  have 
been  more  careful  to  hide  his  feelings.  As  it  was,  he  no 
sooner  met  his  colleague's  eye  than  he  gave  a  quick, 
despondent  shake  of  the  head  in  intimation  that  he  had 
failed. 

Mr.  Byrd,  who  had  anticipated  a  different  result, 
was   greatly   disappointed.      His    countenance    fell  and 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  381 

he  cast  a  glance  of  compassion  at  Miss  Dare,  now 
flushing  with  a  secret  but  slowly  growing  hope.  The  de- 
fence, then,  was  good,  and  she  ran  the  risk  of  being  in- 
terrogated again.  It  was  a  prospect  from  which  Mr, 
Byrd  recoiled. 

As  soon  as  Hickory  got  the  chance,  he  made  his  way 
to  the  side  of  Byrd. 

"  No  go,"  was  his  low  but  expressive  salutation.  "  One 
hundred  and  five  minutes  is  the  shortest  time  in  which  I 
can  get  over  the  ground,  and  that  by  a  deuced  hard 
scramble  of  it  too." 

"  But  that  's  five  minutes'  gain  on  the  experts,"  Byrd 
whispered. 

"  Is  it  ?  Hope  I  could  gain  something  on  them,  but 
what  's  five  minutes'  gain  in  an  affair  like  this  ?  Fifteen 
is  what  's  wanted." 

"  I  know  it." 

"  And  fifteen  I  cannot  make,  nor  ten  either,  unless  a 
pair  of  wings  should  be  given  me  to  carry  me  over  the 
river." 

"  Sure  ? " 

"  Sure  !  " 

Here  there  was  some  commotion  in  their  vicinity, 
owing  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  last  witness  from  the 
stand.  Hickory  took  advantage  of  the  bustle  to  lean 
over  and  whisper  in  Byrd's  ear  : 

"  Do  you  know  I  think  I  have  been  watched  to-day. 
There  was  a  fellow  concealed   in  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house, 


382  HAND   AND   RING. 

who  saw  me  leave  it,  and  who,  I  have  no  doubt,  took 
express  note  of  the  time  I  started.  And  there  was  another 
chap  hanging  round  the  station  at  the  quarries,  whom  I 
am  almost  sure  had  no  business  there  unless  it  was  to  see 
at  what  moment  I  arrived.  He  came  back  to  Sibley 
when  I  did,  but  he  telegraphed  first,  and  it  is  my  opinion 
that  Orcutt " 

Here  he  was  greatly  startled  by  hearing  his  name 
spoken  in  a  loud  and  commanding  tone  of  voice.  Stop- 
ping short,  he  glanced  up,  encountered  the  eye  of  Mr. 
Orcutt  fixed  upon  him  from  the  other  side  of  the  court- 
room, and  realized  he  was  being  summoned  to  the  wit- 
ness stand. 

"  The  deuce  !  "  he  murmured,  with  a  look  at  Byrd  to 
which  none  but  an  artist  could  do  justice. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  383 


XXXII. 


HICKORY. 

Hickory,  dickory,  dock  ! 
The  mouse  ran  up  the  clock  ! 
The  clock  struck  one, 
And  down  he  run  ! 
Hickory,  dickory,  dock  ! 

— Mother  Goose  Melodies. 


HICKORY'S  face  was  no  new  one  to  the  court.  He 
had  occupied  a  considerable  portion  of  one  day  in 
giving  testimony  for  the  prosecution,  and  his  rough  man- 
ner and  hardy  face,  twinkling,  however,  at  times  with  an 
irrepressible  humor  that  redeemed  it  and  him  from  all 
charge  of  ugliness,  were  well  known  not  only  to  the  jury 
but  to  all  the  habitues  of  the  trial.  Yet,  when  he  stepped 
upon  the  stand  at  the  summons  of  Mr.  Orcutt,  every  eye 
turned  toward  him  with  curiosity,  so  great  was  the  sur- 
prise with  which  his  name  had  been  hailed,  and  so  vivid 
the  interest  aroused  in  what  a  detective  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  the  prosecution  might  have  to  say  in  the  way  of 
supporting  the  defence. 

The  first  question  uttered  by  Mr.  Orcutt  served  to  put 
them  upon  the  right  track. 

"  Will  you  tell  the  court  where  you  have  been  to-day, 
Mr.  Hickory  ? " 


384  HAND  AND   RING. 

"Well,"  replied  the  witness  in  a  slow  and  ruminating 
tone  of  voice,  as  he  cast  a  look  at  Mr.  Ferris,  half  apolo- 
getic and  half  reassuring,  "  I  have  been  in  a  good  many 

places " 

"  You  know  what  I  mean,"  interrupted  Mr.  Orcutt. 
"Tell  the  court  where  you  were  between  the  hours  of 
eleven  and  a  quarter  to  one,"  he  added,  with  a  quick 
glance  at  the  paper  he  held  in  his  hand. 

"  Oh,  then"  cried  Hickory,  suddenly  relaxing  into  his 
drollest  self.  "  Well,  then^  I  was  all  along  the  route  from 
Sibley  to  Monteith  Quarry  Station.  I  don't  think  I  was 
stationary  at  any  one  minute  of  the  time,  sir." 

"  In  other  words "  suggested  Mr.  Orcutt,  severely. 

"  I  was  trying  to  show  myself  smarter  than  my  betters  ;  " 
bowing  with  a  great  show  of  respect  to  the  two  experts 
who  sat  near.  "  Or,  in  other  words  still,  I  was  trying  to 
make  the  distance  between  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  and 
the  station  I  have  mentioned,  in  time  sufficient  to  upset 
the  defence,  sir." 

And  the  look  he  cast  at  Mr.  Ferris  was  wholly  apolo- 
getic now 

"Ah,  I  understand,  and  at  whose  suggestion  did  you 
undertake  to  do  this,  Mr.  Hickory  ?  " 

"  At  the  suggestion  of  a  friend  of  mine,  who  is  also 
somewhat  of  a  detective." 

"  And  when  was  this  suggestion  given  ? " 

"  After  your  speech,  sir,  yesterday  afternoon." 

"  And  where  ?  " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  385 

"At  the  hotel,  sir,  where  I  and  my  friend  put  up." 

*'  Did  not  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  order  you  to 
make  this  attempt  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Did  he  not  know  you  were  going  to  make  it  ?" 

"No,  sir." 

"Who  did  know  it?" 

"  My  friend." 

"  No  one  else  ?  " 

"  Well,  sir,  judging  trom  my  present  position,  I  should 
say  there  seems  to  have  been  some  one  else,"  the  witness 
slyly  retorted. 

The  calmness  with  which  Mr.  Orcutt  carried  on  this 
examination  suffered  a  momentary  disturbance. 

"  You  know  what  I  mean,"  he  returned,  "  Did  you 
tell  any  one  but  your  friend  that  you  were  going  to  under- 
take this  run  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Mr.  Hickory,"  the  lawyer  now  pursued,  "will  you  tell 
us  why  you  considered  yourself  qualified  to  succeed  in  an 
attempt  where  you  had  already  been  told  regular  experts 
had  failed  ? " 

"  Well,  sir,  I  don't  know  unless  you  find  the  solution 
in  the  slightly  presumptive  character  of  my  disposition." 

"  Had  you  ever  run  before  or  engaged  in  athletic 
sporty  of  any  kind  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  have  run  before." 

"  And  engaged  in  athletic  sports  ?  " 


386  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Mr.  Hickory,  have  you  ever  run  in  a  race  with  men 
of  well-known  reputation  for  speed  ?  " 

"  Well,  yes,  I  have." 

"  Did  you  ever  win  in  running  such  a  race  ?  " 

"  Once." 

"  No  more  ?  " 

"  Well,  then,  twice." 

The  dejection  with  which  this  last  assent  came  forth 
roused  the  mirth  of  some  light-hearted,  feather-headed 
people,  but  the  officers  of  the  court  soon  put  a  stop 
to  that. 

"  Mr.  Hickory,  will  you  tell  us  whether  on  account  of 
having  twice  beaten  in  a  race  requiring  the  qualifications 
of  a  professional  runner,  you  considered  yourself  quali- 
fied to  judge  of  the  feasibility  of  any  other  man's  making 
the  distance  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  to  Monteith 
Quarry  Station  in  ninety  minutes  by  your  own  ability  or 
non-ability  to  do  so  ?" 

"Yes,  sir,  I  did  ;  but  a  man's  judgment  of  his  own 
qualifications  don't  go  very  far,  I  've  been  told." 

"  I  did  not  ask  you  for  any  remarks,  Mr.  Hickory. 
This  is  a  serious  matter  and  demands  serious  treatment. 
I  asked  if  in  undertaking  to  make  this  run  in  ninety  min- 
utes you  did  not  presume  to  judge  of  the  feasibility  of  the 
prisoner  having  made  it  in  that  time,  and  you  answered, 
'  Yes.'      It  was  enough." 

The  witness  bowed  with  an  air  of  great  innocence. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  387 

"  Now,"  resumed  the  lawyer,  "  you  say  you  made  a  run 
from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  to  Monteith  Quarry  Station 
to-day.  Before  telling  us  in  what  time  you  did  it,  will 
you  be  kind  enough  to  say  what  route  you  took  ? " 

"  The  one,  sir,  which  has  been  pointed  out  by  the  prose- 
cution as  that  which  the  prisoner  undoubtedly  took — the 
path  through  the  woods  and  over  the  bridge  to  the  high- 
way.    I  knew  no  other." 

"  Did  you  know  this  1  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  How  came  you  to  know  it  ?  " 

"  I  had  been  over  it  before." 

"  The  whole  distance  ?  " . 

"  Yes,  sir." 

Mr.  Hickory,  were  you  well  enough  acquainted  with 
the  route  not  to  be  obliged  to  stop  at  any  point  during 
your  journey  to  see  if  you  were  in  the  right  path  or  tak- 
ing the  most  direct  road  to  your  destination  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  And  when  you  got  to  the  river  ?  " 

"I  turned  straight  to  the  right  and  made  for  the 
bridge." 

"  Did  you  not  pause  long  enough  to  see  if  you  could 
not  cross  the  stream  in  some  way  ? " 

"  No,  sir.  I  don't  know  how  to  swim  in  my  clothes 
and  keep  them  dry,  and  as  for  my  wings,  I  had  unfortu- 
nately left  them  at  home." 

Mr.  Orcutt  frowned. 


388  HAND  AND  RING. 

"  These  attempts  at  humor,"  said  he,  "  are  very  mal 
hpropos,  Mr.  Hickory."  Then,  with  a  return  to  his  usual 
tone  :  "  Did  you  cross  the  bridge  at  a  run  ?  " 

*'Yes,  sir." 

"  And  did  you  keep  up  your  pace  when  you  got  to  the 
highroad .? " 

"  No,  I  did  not." 

"You  did  not?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  And  why,  may  I  ask  ?  ** 

"  I  was  tired." 

"  Tired .? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

There  was  a  droll  demureness  in  the  way  Hickory  said 
this  which  made  Mr.  Orcutt  pause.  But  in  another 
minute  he  went  on. 

"  And  what  pace  do  you  take  when  you  are  tired  ? " 

"  A  horse's  pace  when  I  can  get  it,"  was  the  laughing 
reply.  "  A  team  was  going  by,  sir,  and  I  just  jumped  up 
with  the  driver." 

"  Ah,  you  rode,  then,  part  of  the  way  ?  Was  it  a  fast 
team,  Mr.  Hickory?" 

"  Well,  it  was  n't  one  of  Bonner's." 

"  Did  they  go  faster  than  a  man  could  run?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  am  obliged  to  say  they  did." 

"  And  how  long  did  you  ride  behind  them  ?  " 

"  Till  I  got  in  sight  of  the  station." 

*'  Why  did  you  not  go  farther  ?  " 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  389 

"Because  I  had  been  told  the  prisoner  was  seen  to 
walk  up  to  the  station,  and  I  meant  to  be  fair  to  him 
when  I  knew  how." 

"  Oh,  you  did  ;  and  do  you  think  it  was  fair  to  him  to 
steal  a  ride  on  the  highway  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  And  why  ? " 

"  Because  no  one  has  ever  told  me  he  did  n't  ride  down 
the  highway,  at  least  till  he  came  within  sight  of  the 
station." 

"  Mr.  Hickory,"  inquired  the  lawyer,  severely,  "  are 
you  in  possession  of  any  knowledge  proving  that  he 
did  ? " 

"  No,  sir." 

Mr.  Byrd,  who  had  been  watching  the  prisoner  breath- 
lessly through  all  this,  saw  or  thought  he  saw  the  faintest 
shadow  of  an  odd,  disdainful  smile  cross  his  sternly  com- 
posed features  at  this  moment.  But  he  could  not  be  sure. 
There  was  enough  in  the  possibility,  however,  to  make 
the  detective  thoughtful ;  but  Mr.  Orcutt  proceeding 
rapidly  with  his  examination,  left  him  no  time  to  formu- 
late his  sensations  into  words. 

"  So  that  by  taking  this  wagon  you  are  certain  you  lost 
no  time  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Rather  gained  some  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Mr.  Hickory,  will  you  now  state  whether  you  put 


390  HAND   AND    RING. 

forth  your  full  speed  to-day  in  going  from  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  house  to  the  Quarry  Station  ?  " 

"I  did  not." 

"  What  ? " 

"  I  did  not  put  forth  any  thing  like  my  full  speed,  sir," 
the  witness  repeated,  with  a  twinkle  in  the  direction  of 
Byrd  that  fell  just  short  of  being  a  decided  wink. 

"  And  why,  may  I  ask  ?  What  restrained  you  from 
running  as  fast  as  you  could  ?  Sympathy  for  the  de- 
fence ? " 

The  ironical  suggestion  conveyed  in  this  last  question 
gave  Hickory  an  excuse  for  indulging  in  his  peculiar 
humor. 

"  No,  sir  ;  sympathy  for  the  prosecution.  I  feared  the 
loss  of  one  of  its  most  humble  but  valuable  assistants. 
In  other  words,  I  was  afraid  I  should  break  my  neck." 

"  And  why  should  you  have  any  special  fears  of  break- 
ing your  neck  ? " 

"  The  path  is  so  uneven,  sir.  No  man  could  run 
for  much  of  the  way  without  endangering  his  life  or  at 
least  his  limbs." 

"  Did  you  run  when  you  could  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  And  in  those  places  where  you  could  not  run,  did  you 
proceed  as  fast  as  you  knew  how  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Very  well ;  now  I  think  it  is  time  you  told  the  jury 
just  how  many  minutes  it  took  you  to  go  from  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  door  to  the  Monteith  Quarry  Station." 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  39I 

"  Well,  sir,  according  to  my  watch,  it  took  one  hundred 
and  five  minutes." 

Mr.  Orcutt  glanced  impressively  at  the  jury. 

"One  hundred  and  five  minutes,"  he  repeated.  He 
then  turned  to  the  witness  with  his  concluding  questions. 

"  Mr.  Hickory,  were  you  present  in  the  court-room  just 
now  when  the  two  experts  whom  I  have  employed  to 
make  the  run  gave  their  testimony  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Do  you  know  in  what  time  they  made  it  ? " 

"  I  believe  I  do.  I  was  told  by  the  person  whom  I  in- 
formed of  my  failure  that  I  had  gained  five  minutes  upon 
them." 

"  And  what  did  you  reply  ?  " 

"  That  I  hoped  I  could  make  something  on  the^n;  but 
that  five  minutes  was  n't  much  when  a  clean  fifteen  was 
wanted,"  returned  Hickory,  with  another  droll  look  at  the 
experts  and  an  askance  appeal  at  Byrd,  which  being  trans- 
lated might  read  :  "  How  in  the  deuce  could  this  man  have 
known  what  I  was  whispering  to  you  on  the  other  side  of 
the  court-room  ?     Is  he  a  wizard,  this  Orcutt  ?  " 

He  forgot  that  a  successful  lawyer  is  always  more  or 
less  of  a  wizard. 


392  HAND   AND   RING. 


XXXIII. 

A    LATE     DISCOVERY. 
Oh,  torture  me  no  more,  I  will  confess.— King  Lear. 

WITH  the  cross-examination  of  Hickory,  the  de- 
fence rested,  and  the  day  being  far  advanced, 
the  court  adjourned. 

During  the  bustle  occasioned  by  the  departure  of  the 
prisoner,  Mr.  Byrd  took  occasion  to  glance  at  the  faces 
of  those  most  immediately  concerned  in  the  trial. 

His  first  look  naturally  fell  upon  Mr.  Orcutt.  Ah  !  all 
was  going  well  with  the  great  lawyer.  Hope,  if  not 
triumph,  beamed  in  his  eye  and  breathed  in  every  move- 
ment of  his  alert  and  nervous  form.  He  was  looking 
across  the  court-room  at  Imogene  Dare,  and  his  features 
wore  a  faint  smile  that  indelibly  impressed  itself  upon 
Mr.  Byrd's  memory.  Perhaps  because  there  was  some- 
thing really  peculiar  and  remarkable  in  its  expression, 
and  perhaps  because  of  the  contrast  it  offered  to  his  own 
feelings  of  secret  doubt  and  dread. 

His  next  look  naturally  followed  that  of  Mr.  Orcutt 
and  rested  upon  Imogene  Dare.  Ah  !  she  was  under 
the  spell  of  awakening  hope  also.  It  was  visible  in  her 
lightened  brow,  her  calmer  and  less  studied  aspect, 
her  eager  and   eloquently   speaking   gaze   yet   lingering 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  393 

on  the  door  through  which  the  prisoner  had  departed. 
As  Mr.  Byrd  marked  this  look  of  hers  and  noted  all  it 
revealed,  he  felt  his  emotions  rise  till  they  almost  con- 
founded him.  But  strong  as  they  were,  they  deepened 
still  further  when,  in  another  moment,  he  beheld  her  sud- 
denly drop  her  eyes  from  the  door  and  turn  them  slowly, 
reluctantly  but  gratefully,  upon  Mr.  Orcutt,  All  the 
story  of  her  life  was  in  that  change  of  look  ;  all  the  story 

of  her  future,  too,  perhaps,  if Mr.  Byrd  dared  not 

trust  himself  to  follow  the  contingency  that  lurked  behind 
that  if,  and,  to  divert  his  mind,  turned  his  attention 
to  Mr.  Ferris. 

But  he  found  small  comfort  there.  For  the  District 
Attorney  was  not  alone.  Hickory  stood  at  his  side,  and 
Hickory  was  whispering  in  his  ear,  and  Mr.  Byrd, 
who  knew  what  was  weighing  on  his  colleague's  mind, 
found  no  difficulty  in  interpreting  the  mingled  expression 
of  perplexity  and  surprise  that  crossed  the  dark,  aquiline 
features  of  the  District  Attorney  as  he  listened  with 
slightly  bended  head  to  what  the  detective  had  to  say. 
That  look  and  the  deep,  anxious  frown  which  crossed  his 
brow  as  he  glanced  up  and  encountered  Imogene's  eye, 
remained  in  Mr.  Byrd's  mind  long  after  the  court-room 
was  empty  and  he  had  returned  to  his  hotel.  It  mingled 
with  the  smile  of  strange  satisfaction  which  he  had 
detected  on  Mr.  Orcutt's  face,  and  awakened  such  a  tur- 
moil of  contradictory  images  in  his  mind  that  he  was  glad 
when  Hickory  at  last  came  in  to  break  the  spell. 


394  HAND   AND    RING. 

Their  meeting  was  singular,  and  revealed,  as  by  a  flash, 
the  difference  between  the  two  men.  Byrd  contented 
himself  with  giving  Hickory  a  look  and  saying  nothing, 
while  Hickory  bestowed  upon  Byrd  a  hearty  "  Well,  old 
fellow  !  "  and  broke  out  into  a  loud  and  by  no  means  un- 
enjoyable  laugh. 

"You  did  n't  expect  to  see  me  mounting  the  rostrum 
in  favor  of  the  defence,  did  you  ?  "  he  asked,  after  he  had 
indulged  himself  as  long  as  he  saw  fit  in  the  display 
of  this  somewhat  unseasonable  mirth.  "  Well,  it  was  a 
surprise.     But  I  've  done  it  for  Orcutt  now  !  " 

"  You  have  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  have." 

"  But  the  prosecution  has  closed  its  case  ? " 

"Bah  !  what  of  that?"  was  the  careless  reply.  "  The 
District  Attorney  can  get  it  reopened.  No  Court  would 
refuse  that." 

Horace  surveyed  his  colleague  for  a  moment  in 
silence. 

"  So  Mr.  Ferris  was  struck  with  the  point  you  gave 
him  ? "  he  ventured,  at  last. 

"Well,  sufficiently  so  to  be  uneasy,"  was  Hickory's 
somewhat  dry  response. 

The  look  with  which  Byrd  answered  him  was  eloquent. 
"And  that  makes  you  cheerful  ?"  he  inquired,  with  ill- 
concealed  sarcasm. 

"  Well,  it  has  a  slight  tendency  that  way,"  drawled  the 
other,  seemingly  careless  of  the  other's  expression,  if,  in- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  395 

deed,  he  had  noted  it.  "  You  see,"  he  went  on,  with  a 
meaning  wink  and  a  smile  of  utter  unconcern,  "  all  my 
energies  just  now  are  concentrated  on  getting  myself  even 
with  that  somewhat  too  wide-awake  lawyer."  And  his 
smile  broadened  till  it  merged  into  a  laugh  that  was  rasp- 
ing enough  to  Byrd's  more  delicate  and  generous  sensi- 
bilities. 

"  Sufficiently  so  to  be  uneasy  !"  Yes,  that  was  it.  From 
the  minute  Mr.  Ferris  listened  to  the  suggestion  that  Miss 
Dare  had  not  told  all  she  knew  about  the  murder,  and 
that  a  question  relative  to  where  she  had  been  at  the 
time  it  was  perpetrated  would,  in  all  probability,  bring 
strange  revelations  to  light,  he  had  been  awakened  to  a 
most  uncomfortable  sense  of  his  position  and  the 
duty  that  was  possibly  required  of  him.  To  be  sure,  the 
time  for  presenting  testimony  to  the  court  was  passed,  un- 
less it  was  in  the  way  of  rebuttal ;  but  how  did  he 
know  but  what  Miss  Dare  had  a  fact  at  her  command 
which  would  help  the  prosecution  in  overturning  the 
strange,  unexpected,  yet  simple  theory  of  the  defence  ? 
At  all  events,  he  felt  he  ought  to  know  whether,  in  giv- 
ing her  testimony  she  had  exhausted  her  knowledge  on 
this  subject,  or  whether,  in  her  sympathy  for  the  ac- 
cused, she  had  kept  back  certain  evidence  which  if 
presented  might  bring  the  crime  more  directly  home  to 
the  prisoner.  Accordingly,  somewhere  toward  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  he  sought  her  out  with  the  bold 
resolution  of  forcing  her  to  satisfy  him  on  this  point. 


396  HAND   AND    RING. 

He  did  not  find  his  task  so  easy,  however,  when  he 
came  into  direct  contact  with  her  stately  and  far  from  en- 
couraging presence,  and  met  the  look  of  surprise  not  un- 
mixed with  alarm  Avith  which  she  greeted  him.  She 
looked  very  weary,  too,  and  yet  unnaturally  excited,  as  if 
she  had  not  slept  for  many  nights,  if  indeed  she  had 
rested  at  all  since  the  trial  began.  It  struck  him  as  cruel 
to  further  disturb  this  woman,  and  yet  the  longer  he  sur- 
veyed her,  the  more  he  studied  her  pale,  haughty,  in- 
scrutable face,  he  became  the  more  assured  that  he 
would  never  feel  satisfied  with  himself  if  he  did  not  give 
her  an  immediate  opportunity  to  disperse  at  once  and  for- 
ever these  freshly  awakened  doubts. 

His  attitude  or  possibly  his  expression  must  have 
betrayed  something  of  his  anxiety  if  not  of  his  resolve, 
for  her  countenance  fell  as  she  watched  him,  and  her  voice 
sounded  quite  unnatural  as  she  strove  to  ask  to  .what 
she  was  indebted  for  this  unexpected  visit. 

He  did  not  keep  her  in  suspense. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  said  he,  not  without  kindness,  for  he  was 
very  sorry  for  this  woman,  despite  the  inevitable  preju- 
dice which  her  relations  to  the  accused  had  awakened, 
"  I  would  have  given  much  not  to  have  been  obliged  to 
disturb  you  to-night,  but  my  duty  would  not  allow  it. 
There  is  a  question  which  I  have  hitherto  omitted  to 
ask " 

He  paused,  shocked  ;  she  was  swaying  from  side 
to  side  before  his  eves,  and  seemed  indeed  about  to  fall. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  397 

But  at  the  outreaching  of  his  hand  she  recovered  herself 
and  stood  erect,  the  noblest  spectacle  of  a  woman 
triumphing  over  the  weakness  of  her  body  by  the 
mere  force  of  her  indomitable  will,  that  he  had  ever 
beheld. 

"  Sit  down,"  he  gently  urged,  pushing  toward  her  a 
chair.  "  You  have  had  a  hard  and  dreary  week  of  it ; 
you  are  in  need  of  rest." 

She  did  not  refuse  to  avail  herself  of  the  chair,  though, 
as  he  could  not  help  but  notice,  she  did  not  thereby  relax 
one  iota  of  the  restraint  she  put  upon  herself. 

"  I  do  not  understand,"  she  murmured  ;  "  what  ques- 
tion ?" 

"  Miss  Dare,  in  all  you  have  told  the  court.  In  all  that 
you  have  told  me,  about  this  fatal  and  unhappy  affair,  you 
have  never  informed  us  how  it  was  you  first  came 
to  hear  of  it.     You  were " 

"  I  heard  it  on  the  street  corner,"  she  interrupted,  with 
what  seemed  to  him  an  almost  feverish  haste. 

"  First  ?  " 

"Yes,  first." 

"Miss  Dare,  had  you  been  in  the  street  long?  Were 
you  in  it  at  the  time  the  murder  happened,  do  you 
think  ?  " 

"  I  in  the  street  ?  " 

"Yes,"  he  repeated,  conscious  from  the  sudden  strange 
alteration  in  her  look  that  he  had  touched  upon  a  point 
which,  to  her,  was  vital    with   some    undefined  interest, 


398  HAND   AND    RING. 

possibly  that  to  which  the  surmises  of  Hickory  had  sup- 
plied a  clue.  "  Were  you  in  the  street,  or  anywhere  out- 
of-doors  at  the  time  the  murder  occurred  ?  It  strikes  me 
that  it  would  be  well  for  me  to  know." 

"Sir,"  she  cried,  rising  in  her  sudden  indignation,  "I 
thought  the  time  for  questions  had  passed.  What  means 
this  sudden  inquiry  into  a  matter  we  have  all  considered 
exhausted,  certainly  as  far  as  I  am  concerned." 

"  Shall  I  show  you  ?  "  he  cried,  taking  her  by  the  hand 
and  leading  her  toward  the  mirror  near  by,  under  one  of 
those  impulses  which  sometimes  effect  so  much.  "  Look 
in  there  at  your  own  face  and  you  will  see  why  I  press 
this  question  upon  you." 

Astonished,  if  not  awed,  she  followed  with  her  eyes  the 
direction  of  his  pointing  finger,  and  anxiously  surveyed 
her  own  image  in  the  glass.  Then,  with  a  quick  move- 
ment, her  hands  went  up  before  her  face — which  till  that 
moment  had  kept  its  counsel  so  well — and,  tottering  back 
against  a  table,  she  stood  for  a  moment  communing  with 
herself,  and  possibly  summoning  up  her  courage  for  the 
conflict  she  evidently  saw  before  her. 

"What  is  it  you  wish  to  know  ?  "  she  faintly  inquired, 
after  a  long  period  of  suspense  and  doubt. 

"  Where  were  you  when  the  clock  struck  twelve  on  the 
day  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  murdered  ?  " 

Instantly  dropping  her  hand.?,  she  turned  toward  him 
with  a  sudden  lift  of  her  majestic  figure  that  was  as  impos- 
ing as  it  was  unexpected. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  399 

"  I  was  at  Professor  Darling's  house,"  she  declared, 
with  great  steadiness. 

Mr.  Ferris  had  not  expected  this  reply,  and  looked  at 
her  for  an  instant  almost  as  if  he  felt  inclined  to  repeat 
his  inquiry. 

"  Do  you  doubt  my  word  ?  "  she  queried.  "  Is  it  pos- 
sible you  question  my  truth  at  a  time  like  this  ?  " 

"  No,  Miss  Dare,"  he  gravely  assured  her.  "  After  the 
great  sacrifice  you  have  publicly  made  in  the  interests  of 
justice,  it  would  be  worse  than  presumptuous  in  me  to 
doubt  your  sincerity  now." 

She  drew  a  deep  breath,  and  straightened  herself  still 
more  proudly. 

"  Then  am  I  to  understand  you  are  satisfied  with  the 
answer  you  have  received  ?  " 

"  Yes,  if  you  will  also  add  that  you  were  in  the  observa- 
tory at  Professor  Darling's  house,"  he  responded  quickly, 
convinced  there  was  some  mystery  here,  and  seeing  but 
one  way  to  reach  it. 

"  Very  well,  then,  I  was,"  she  averred,  without  hesitation. 

**  You  were !  "  he  echoed,  advancing  upon  her  with  a 
slight  flush  on  his  middle-aged  cheek,  that  evinced  how 
difficult  it  was  for  him  to  pursue  this  conversation  in  face 
of  the  haughty  and  repellant  bearing  she  had  assumed. 
"You  will,  perhaps,  tell  me,  then,  why  you  did  not  see 
and  respond  to  the  girl  who  came  into  that  room  at  this 
very  time,  with  a  message  from  a  lady  who  waited  below 
to  see  you  ?" 


400  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Ah  !  "  she  cried,  succumbing  with  a  suppressed 
moan  to  the  inexorable  destiny  that  pursued  her  in  this 
man,  "  you  have  woven  a  net  for  me  !  " 

And  she  sank  again  into  a  chair,  where  she  sat  like  one 
stunned,  looking  at  him  with  a  hollow  gaze  which  filled 
his  heart  with  compassion,  but  which  had  no  power  to 
shake  his  purpose  as  a  District  Attorney. 

"  Yes,"  he  acknowledged,  after  a  moment,  "  I  have 
woven  a  net  for  you,  but  only  because  I  am  anxious  for 
the  truth,  and  desirous  of  furthering  the  ends  of  justice. 
I  am  confident  you  know  more  about  this  crime  than  you 
have  ever  revealed,  Miss  Dare  ;  that  you  are  acquainted 
with  some  fact  that  makes  you  certain  Mr.  Mansell  com- 
mitted this  murder,  notwithstanding  the  defence  advanced 
in  his  favor.  What  is  this  fact  ?  It  is  my  office  to  in- 
quire. True,"  he  admitted,  seeing  her  draw  back  with 
denial  written  on  every  line  of  her  white  face,  "you  have 
a  right  to  refuse  to  answer  me  here,  but  you  will  have  no 
right  to  refuse  to  answer  me  to-morrow  when  I  put  the 
same  question  to  you  in  the  presence  of  judge  and  jury." 

"And" — her  voice  was  so  husky  he  could  but.  with 
difficulty  distinguish  her  words — "do  you  intend  to  re- 
call me  to  the  stand  to-morrow  ?  " 

"  I  am  obliged  to.  Miss  Dare." 

"But  I  thought  the  time  for  examination  was  over; 
that  the  witnesses  had  all  testified,  and  that  nothing  re- 
mained now  but  for  the  lawyers  to  sum  up." 

"  When  in  a  case  like  this  the  prisoner  offers  a  defence 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  4OI 

not  anticipated  by  the  prosecution,  the  latter,  of  course, 
has  the  right  to  meet  such  defence  with  proof  in  re- 
buttal." 

"  Proof  in  rebuttal  ?    What  is  that  ?" 

"  Evidence  to  rebut  or  prove  false  the  matters  ad- 
vanced in  support  of  the  defence." 

"Ah!" 

"  I  must  do  it  in  this  case — if  I  can,  of  course." 

She  did  not  reply. 

"And  even  if  the  testimony  I  desire  to  put  in  is  not 
rebuttal  in  its  character,  no  unbiassed  judge  would  deny 
to  counsel  the  privilege  of  reopening  his  case  when  any 
new  or  important  fact  has  come  to  light." 

As  if  overwhelmed  by  a  prospect  she  had  not  antici- 
pated, she  hurriedly  arose  and  pointed  down  the  room  to 
a  curtained  recess. 

"  Give  me  five  minutes,"  she  cried  ;  "  five  minutes  by 
myself  where  no  one  can  look  at  me,  and  where  I  can 
think  undisturbed  upon  what  I  had  better  do." 

"Very  well,"  he  acquiesced  ;  "you  shall  have  them." 

She  at  once  crossed  to  the  small  retreat. 

"  Five  minutes,"  she  reiterated  huskily,  as  she  lifted 
the  curtains  aside  ;  "  when  the  clock  strikes  nine  I  will 
come  out." 

"  You  will  ?  "  he  repeated,  doubtfully. 

"  I  will." 

The  curtains  fell  behind  her,  and  for  five  long  minutes 
Mr.  Ferris   paced   the  room   alone.     He   was   far  from 


402  HAND   AND   RING. 

easy.  All  was  so  quiet  behind  that  curtain, — so  preter- 
naturally  quiet.  But  he  would  not  disturb  her  ;  no,  he 
had  promised,  and  she  should  be  left  to  fight  her  battle 
alone.  When  nine  o'clock  struck,  however,  he  started,  and 
owned  to  himself  some  secret  dread.  Would  she  come 
forth  or  would  he  have  to  seek  her  in  her  place  of  seclu- 
sion. It  seemed  he  would  have  to  seek  her,  for  the  cur- 
tains did  not  stir,  and  by  no  sound  from  within  was  any 
token  given  that  she  had  heard  the  summons.  Yet  he 
hesitated,  and  as  he  did  so,  a  thought  struck  him.  Could 
it  be  there  was  any  outlet  from  the  refuge  she  had 
sought  ?  Had  she  taken  advantage  of  his  consideration 
to  escape  him  ?  Moved  by  the  fear,  he  hastily  crossed 
the  room.  But  before  he  could  lay  his  band  upon  the 
curtains,  they  parted,  and  disclosed  the  form  of  Imo- 
gen e. 

"  I  am  coming,"  she  murmured,  and  stepped  forth 
more  like  a  faintly-breathing  image  than  a  living 
woman. 

His  first  glance  at  her  face  convinced  him  she  had 
taken  her  resolution.  His  second,  that  in  taking  it  she 
had  drifted  into  a  state  of  feeling  different  from  any  he 
had  observed  in  her  before,  and  of  a  sort  that  to  him  was 
wholly  inexplicable.  Her  words  when  she  spoke  only 
deepened  this  impression. 

"  Mr.  Ferris,"  said  she,  coming  very  near  to  him  in 
evident  dread  of  being  overheard,  "  I  have  decided  to 
tell  you  all,     I  hoped  never  to  be  obliged  to   do  this.     I 


"  The  curtains  parted  and  disclosed  the  form  of  Imogene.       I  am  coming,'  she 
murmured,  and  stepped  forth." — (Page  402.) 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  403 

thought  enough  had  been  revealed  to  answer  your  pur- 
pose. I — I  believed  Heaven  would  spare  me  this  last 
trial,  let  me  keep  this  last  secret.  It  was  of  so  strange  a 
nature,  so  totally  out  of  the  reach  of  any  man's  surmise. 
But  the  finger  of  God  is  on  me.  It  has  followed  this 
crime  from  the  beginning,  and  there  is  no  escape.  By 
some  strange  means,  some  instinct  of  penetration,  per- 
haps, you  have  discovered  that  I  know  something  con- 
cerning this  murder  of  which  I  have  never  told  you,  and 
that  the  hour  I  spent  at  Professor  Darling's  is  account- 
able for  this  knowledge.  Sir,  I  cannot  struggle  with 
Providence.  I  will  tell  you  all  I  have  hitherto  hidden 
from  the  world  if  you  will  promise  to  let  me  know  if  my 
words  will  prove  fatal,  and  if  he — he  who  is  on  trial  for 
his  life — will  be  lost  if  I  give  to  the  court  my  last  evidence 
against  him  ?  " 

"  But,  Miss  Dare,"  remonstrated  the  District  Attorney, 

"no  man  can  tell "     He  did  not  finish  his  sentence. 

Something  in  the  feverish  gaze  she  fixed  upon  him 
stopped  him.  He  felt  that  he  could  not  palter  with  a 
woman  in  the  grasp  of  an  agony  like  this.  So,  starting 
again,  he  observed  :  "  Let  me  hear  what  you  have  to  say, 
and  afterward  we  will  consider  what  the  effect  of  it  may 
be  ;  though  a  question  of  expediency  should  not  come 
into  your  consideration,  Miss  Dare,  in  telling  such  truths 
as  the  law  demands." 

"  No  ?  "  she  broke  out,  giving  way  for  one  instant  to  a 
low  and  terrible  laugh  which  curdled  Mr.   Ferris'  blood 


404  HAND   AND   RING. 

and  made  him  wish  his  duty  had  led  him  into  the  midst 
of  any  other  scene  than  this. 

But  before  he  could  remonstrate  with  her,  this  harrow- 
ing expression  of  misery  had  ceased,  and  she  was  saying 
in  quiet  and  suppressed  tones  : 

"  The  reason  I  did  not  see  and  respond  to  the  girl  who 
came  into  the  observatory  on  the  morning  of  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  murder  is,  that  I  was  so  absorbed  in  the  discoveries 
I  was  making  behind  the  high  rack  which  shuts  off  one 
end  of  the  room,  that  any  appeal  to  me  at  that  time  must 
have  passed  unnoticed.  I  had  come  to  Professor  Dar- 
ling's house,  according  to  my  usual  custom  on  Tuesday 
mornings,  to  study  astronomy  with  his  daughter  Helen. 
I  had  come  reluctantly,  for  my  mind  was  full  of  the  se- 
cret intention  I  had  formed  of  visiting  Mrs.  Clemmensin 
the  afternoon,  and  I  had  no  heart  for  study.  But  finding 
Miss  Darling  out,  I  felt  a  drawing  toward  the  seclusion  I 
knew  I  should  find  in  the  observatory,  and  mounting  to 
it,  I  sat  down  by  myself  to  think.  The  rest  and  quiet  of 
the  place  were  soothing  to  me,  and  I  sat  still  a  long  time, 
but  suddenly  becoming  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it 
was  growing  late,  I  went  to  the  window  to  consult  the 
town-clock.  But  though  its  face  could  be  plainly  seen 
from  the  observatory,  its  hands  could  not,  and  I  was  about 
to  withdraw  from  tlie  window  when  I  remembered  th^ 
telescope,  which  i\Iiss  Darling  and  I  had,  in  a  moment  of 
caprice  a  few  days  before,  so  arranged  as  to  command  a 
view  of  the  town.     Going  to  it,  I  peered  through  it  at  the 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  405 

clock."  Stopping,  she  surveyed  the  District  Attorney  with 
breathless  suspense.  "It was  just  five  minutes  to  twelve,"- 
she  impressively  whispered. 

Mr.  Ferris  felt  a  shock. 

"  A  critical  moment  !  "  he  exclaimed.  Then,  with  a 
certain  intuition  of  what  she  was  going  to  say  next,  in- 
quired :  "  And  what  then,  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

"  I  was  struck  by  a  desire  to  see  if  I  could  detect  Mrs. 
Clemmens'  house  from  where  I  was,  and  shifting  the 
telescope  slightly,  I  looked  through  it  again,  and " 

"  What  did  you  see,  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

"  I  saw  her  dining-room  door  standing  ajar  and  a 
man  leaping  headlong  over  the  fence  toward  the 
bog." 

The  District  Attorney  started,  looked  at  her  with  grow- 
ing interest,  and  inquired  : 

"  Did  you  recognize  this  man,  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

She  nodded  in  great  agitation. 

"  Who  was  he  ?  " 

"  Craik  Mansell." 

"  Miss  Dare,"  ventured  Mr.  Ferris,  after  a  moment, 
"  you  say  this  was  five  minutes  to  twelve  ?  " 

**  Yes,  sir,"  was  the  faint  reply. 

"  Five  minutes  later  than  the  time  designated  by  the 
defence  as  a  period  manifestly  too  late  for  the  prisoner  to 
have  left  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  and  arrived  at  the 
Quarry  Station  at  twenty  minutes  past  one  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  she  repeated,  below  her  breath. 


4o6  HAND   AND   RING. 

The  District  Attorney  surveyed  her  earnestly,  perceiv- 
ing she  had  not  only  spoken  the  truth,  but  realized  all 
which  that  truth  implied,  and  drew  back  a  few  steps  mut- 
tering ironically  to  himself : 

"  Ah,  Orcutt  !  Orcutt !  " 

Breathlessly  she  watched  him,  breathlessly  she  followed 
him  step  by  step  like  some  white  and  haunting  spirit. 

"  You  believe,  then,  this  fact  will  cost  him  his  life  ? ' 
came  from  her  lips  at  last. 

"  Don't  ask  me  that,  Miss  Dare.  You  and  I  have  no 
concern  with  the  consequences  of  this  evidence." 

"  No  concern  ? "  she  repeated,  wildly.  "  You  and  I 
no  concern?  Ah!"  she  went  on,  with  heart-piercing 
sarcasm,  "  I  forgot  that  the  sentiments  of  the  heart  have 
no  place  in  judicial  investigation.  A  criminal  is  but 
lawful  prey,  and  it  is  every  good  citizen's  duty  to  push 
him  to  his  doom.  No  matter  if  one  is  bound  to  that 
criminal  by  the  dearest  ties  which  can  unite  two  hearts  ; 
no  matter  if  the  trust  he  has  bestowed  upon  you  has  been 
absolute  and  unquestioning,  the  law  does  not  busy  itself 
with  that.  The  law  says  if  you  have  a  word  at  your 
command  which  can  destroy  this  man,  give  utterance  to 
it;   and  the  law  must  be  obeyed." 

"  But,  Miss  Dare "  the  District  Attorney  hastily  in- 
tervened, startled  by  the  feverish  gleam  of  her  hitherto 
calm  eye. 

But  she  was  not  to  be  stopped,  now  that  her  misery  had 
at  last  found  words. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  407. 

"  You  do  not  understand  my  position,  perhaps,"  she 
continued.  "  You  do  not  see  that  it  has  been  my  hand, 
and  mine  only,  which,  from  the  first,  has  slowly,  remorse- 
lessly pushed  this  man  back  from  the  point  of  safety,  till 
now,  now,  I  am  called  upon  to  drag  from  his  hand  the  one 
poor  bending  twig  to  which  he  clings,  and  upon  which  he 
relies  to  support  him  above  the  terrible  gulf  that  yawns  at 
his  feet.     You  do  not  see " 

**  Pardon  me,"  interposed  Mr.  Ferris  again,  anxious,  if 
possible,  to  restore  her  to  herself.  "  I  see  enough  to  pity 
you  profoundly.  But  you  must  allow  me  to  remark  that 
your  hand  is  not  the  only  one  which  has  been  instru- 
mental in  hurrying  this  young  man  to  his  doom.  The 
detectives " 

"  Sir,"  she  interrupted  in  her  turn,  "  can  you,  dare  you 
say,  that  without  my  testimony  he  would  have  stood  at 
any  time  in  a  really  critical  position  ? — or  that  he  would 
stand  in  jeopardy  of  his  life  even  now,  if  it  were  not  for 
this  fact  I  have  to  tell  ?  " 

Mr.  Ferris  was  silent. 

"  Oh,  I  knew  it,  I  knew  it  !  "  she  cried.  "  There  will  be 
no  doubt  concerning  whose  testimony  it  was  that  con- 
victed him,  if  he  is  sentenced  by  the  court  for  this  crime. 
Ah,  ah,  what  an  enviable  position  is  mine  !  What  an 
honorable  deed  I  am  called  upon  to  perform  !  To  tell  the 
truth  at  the  expense  of  the  life  most  dear  to  you.  It  is  a 
Roman  virtue  !  I  shall  be  held  up  as  a  model  to  my  sex. 
All  the  world  must  shower  plaudits  upon  the  woman  who, 


408  HAND   AND    RING. 

sooner  than  rob  justice  of  its  due,  delivered  her  own  lover 
over  to  the  hangman." 

Pausing  in  her  passionate  burst,  she  turned  her  hot,  dry 
eyes  in  a  sort  of  desperation  upon  his  face. 

"  Do  you  know,"  she  gurgled  in  his  ear,  "  some  women 
would  kill  themselves  before  they  would  do  this  deed." 

Struck  to  his  heart  in  spite  of  himself,  Mr.  Ferris  looked 
at  her  in  alarm — saw  her  standing  there  with  her  arms 
hanging  down  at  her  sides,  but  with  her  two  hands  clinched 
till  they  looked  as  if  carved  from  marble — and  drew  near 
to  her  with  the  simple  hurried  question  of  : 

"  But  you  ?  " 

"  I  ?  "  she  laughed  again — a  low,  gurgling  laugh,  that 
yet  had  a  tone  in  it  that  went  to  the  other's  heart  and 
awoke  strange  sensations  there.  "  Oh,  I  shall  live  to  re- 
spond to  your  questions.  Do  not  fear  that  I  shall  not  be 
in  the  court-room  to-morrow." 

There  was  something  in  her  look  and  manner  that 
was  new.  It  awed  him,  while  it  woke  all  his  latent  con- 
cern. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  he  began,  "you  can  believe  how  painful 
all  this  has  been  to  me,  and  how  I  would  have  spared  you 
this  misery  if  I  could.  But  the  responsibilities  resting  upon 
me  are  such " 

He  did  not  go  on  ;  why  should  he  ?  She  was  not  lis- 
tening. To  be  sure,  she  stood  before  him,  seemingly  at- 
tentive, but  the  eyes  with  which  she  met  his  were  fixed 
upon  other  objects  than  any  which  could  have  beenappa- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  4O9 

rent  to  her  in  his  face  ;  and  her  form,  which  she  had 
hitherto  held  upright,  was  shaking  with  long,  uncon- 
trollably shudders,  which,  to  his  excited  imagination, 
threatened  to  lay  her  at  his  feet. 

He  at  once  started  toward  the  door  for  help.  But  she 
was  alive  to  his  movements  if  not  to  his  words.  Stopping 
him  with  a  gesture,  she  cried  : 

"  No — no  !  do  not  call  for  any  one  ;  I  wish  to  be  alone  ; 
I  have  my  duty  to  face,  you  know  ;  my  testimony  to  pre- 
pare." And  rousing  herself  she  cast  a  peculiar  look  about 
the  room,  like  one  suddenly  introduced  into  a  strange  place, 
and  then  moving  slowly  toward  the  window,  threw  back 
the  curtain  and  gazed  without.  "  Night !  "  she  murmured, 
"  night  !  "  and  after  a  moment  added,  in  a  deep,  unearthly 
voice  that  thrilled  irresistibly  upon  Mr.  Ferris'  ear  : 
"  And  a  heaven  full  of  stars  !  " 

Her  face,  as  she  turned  it  upward,  wore  so  strange  a 
look,  Mr.  Ferris  involuntarily  left  his  position  and  crossed 
to  her  side.  She  was  still  murmuring  to  herself  in  seem- 
ing unconsciousness  of  his  presence.  "  Stars  !  "  she  was 
repeating;  "and  above  them  God!"  And  the  long 
shudders  shook  her  frame  again,  and  she  dropped  her 
head  and  seemed  about  to  fall  into  her  old  abstraction 
when  her  eye  encountered  that  of  the  District  Attorney, 
and  she  hurriedly  aroused  herself. 

"  Pardon  me,"  she  exclaimed,  with  an  ill-concealed 
irony,  particularly  impressive  after  her  tone  of  the  moment 
before,  "  have  you  any  thing  further  to  exact  of  me  ?  " 


4IO  HAND  AND   RING. 

*'  No,"  he  made  haste  to  reply  ;  "only  before  I  go  I 
would  entreat  you  to  be  calm " 

"  And  say  the  word  I  have  to  say  to-morrow  v^ithout  a 
balk  and  without  an  unneccessary  display  of  feeling,"  she 
coldly  interpolated.  "  Thanks,  Mr.  Ferris,  I  understand 
you.  But  you  need  fear  nothing  from  me.  There  will 
be  no  scene — at  least  on  my  part — when  I  rise  before  the 
court  to  give  my  testimony  to-morrow.  Since  my  hand 
must  strike  the  fatal  blow,  it  shall  strike — firmly  !  "  and 
her  clenched  fist  fell  heavily  on  her  own  breast,  as  if  the 
blow  she  meditated  must  first  strike  there. 

The  District  Attorney,  more  moved  than  he  had  deemed 
it  possible  for  him  to  be,  made  her  a  low  bow  and  with- 
drew slowly  to  the  door. 

"  I  leave  you,  then,  till  to-morrow,"  he  said. 

"  Till  to-morrow." 

Long  after  he  had  passed  out,  the  deep  meaning  which 
informed  those  two  words  haunted  his  memory  and  dis- 
turbed his  heart.  Till  to-morrow  !  Alas,  poor  girl !  and 
after  to-morrow,  what  then  ? 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  4II 


XXXIV. 

WHAT    WAS    HID    BEHIND    IMOGENE'S    VEIL. 
Mark  now,  how  a  plain  tale  shall  put  you  down. — Henry  IV. 

THE  few  minutes  that  elapsed  before  the  formal 
opening  of  court  the  next  morning  were  marked 
by  great  cheerfulness.  The  crisp  frosty  air  had  put  every- 
body in  a  good-humor.  Even  the  prisoner  looked  less 
sombre  than  before,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the 
beginning  of  his  trial,  deigned  to  turn  his  eyes  toward 
the  bench  where  Imogene  sat,  with  a  look  that,  while  it 
was  not  exactly  kind,  had  certainly  less  disdain  in  it  than 
before  he  saw  his  way  to  a  possible  acquittal  on  the 
theory  advanced  by  his  counsel. 

But  this  look,  though  his  first,  did  not  prove  to  be  his 
last.  Something  in  the  attitude  of  the  woman  he  gazed 
at — or  was  it  the  mystery  of  the  heavy  black  veil  that 
enveloped  her  features  ? — woke  a  strange  doubt  in  his 
mind.  Beckoning  to  Mr.  Orcutt,  he  communicated  with 
him  in  a  low  tone. 

"Can  it  be  possible,"  asked  he,  "that  any  thing  new 
could  have  transpired  since  last  night  to  give  encourage- 
ment to  the  prosecution  ?  " 


412  HAND   AND    RING. 

The  lawyer,  startled,  glanced  hastily  about  him  and 
shook  his  head. 

"  No,"  he  cried  ;  "  impossible  !  What  could  have 
transpired  ? " 

"Look  at  Mr.  Ferris,"  whispered  the  prisoner,  "and 
then  at  the  witness  who  wears  a  veil." 

With  an  unaccountable  feeling  of  reluctance,  Mr. 
Orcutt  hastily  complied.  His  first  glance  at  the  District 
Attorney  made  him  thoughtful.  He  recognized  the  look 
which  his  opponent  wore  ;  he  had  seen  it  many  a  time 
before  this,  and  knew  what  it  indicated.  As  forlmogene 
who  could  tell  what  went  on  in  that  determined  breast  ? 
The  close  black  veil  revealed  nothing.  Mr.  Orcutt  impa- 
tiently turned  back  to  his  client. 

"  I  think  you  alarm  yourself  unnecessarily,"  he  whis- 
pered. "  Ferris  means  to  fight,  but  what  of  that  ?  He 
would  n't  be  fit  for  his  position  if  he  did  n't  struggle  to 
the  last  gasp  even  for  a  failing  cause." 

Yet  in  saying  this  his  lip  took  its  sternest  line,  and  from 
the  glitter  of  his  eye  and  the  close  contraction  of  his  brow 
it  looked  as  if  he  were  polishing  his  own  weapons  for  the 
conflict  he  thus  unexpectedly  saw  before  him. 

Meantime,  across  the  court-room,  another  whispered 
conference  was  going  on. 

"  Hickory,  where  have  you  been  ever  since  last  night  ? 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  you  anywhere." 

"  I  was  on  duty  ;  I  had  a  bird  to  look  after." 

"A  bird?" 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  413 

"  Yes,  a  wild  bird  ;  one  who  is  none  too  fond  of  its 
cage  ;  a  desperate  one  who  might  find  means  to  force 
aside  its  bars  and  fly  away." 

"  What  do  you  mean,  Hickory  ?  What  nonsense  is 
this  ? " 

"  Look  at  Miss  Dare  and  perhaps  you  will  under- 
stand." 

"  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

"Yes." 

Horace's  eyes  opened  in  secret  alarm. 

"  Do  you  mean " 

"  I  mean  that  I  spent  the  whole  night  in  tramping  up 
and  down  in  front  of  her  window.  And  a  dismal  task  it 
was  too.     Her  lamp  burned  till  daylight." 

Here  the  court  was  called  to  order  and  Byrd  had  only 
opportunity  to  ask  : 

"  Why  does  she  wear  a  veil  ?  " 

To  which  the  other  whisperingly  retorted  : 

"  Why  did  she  spend  the  whole  night  in  packing  up  her 
worldly  goods  and  writing  a  letter  to  the  Congregational 
minister  to  be  sent  after  the  adjournment  of  court  to- 
day ? " 

"  Did  she  do  that  ?  " 

"  She  did." 

"  Hickory,  don't  you  know — have  n't  you  been  told 
what  she  is  expected  to  say  or  do  here  to-day  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  You  only  guess  ? " 


414  HAND  AND   RING. 

"  No,  I  don't  guess." 

"  You  fear,  then  ?  " 

"  Fear  !  Well,  that  's  a  big  word  to  a  fellow  like  me. 
I  don't  know  as  I  fear  any  thing  ;  I  'm  curious,  that  is 
all." 

Mr.  Byrd  drew  back,  looked  over  at  Imogene,  and  in- 
voluntarily shook  his  head.  What  was  in  the  mind  of 
this  mysterious  woman  ?  What  direful  purpose  or  shadow 
of  doom  lay  behind  the  veil  that  separated  her  from  the 
curiosity  and  perhaps  the  sympathy  of  the  surrounding 
crowd  ?  It  was  in  vain  to  question  ;  he  could  only  wait 
in  secret  anxiety  for  the  revelations  which  the  next  few 
minutes  might  bring. 

The  defence  having  rested  the  night  before,  the  first 
action  of  the  Judge  onjhe  opening  of  the  court  was  to 
demand  whether  the  prosecution  had  any  rebuttal  testi- 
mony to  offer. 

Mr.  Ferris  instantly  rose. 

"  Miss  Dare,  will  you  retake  the  stand,"  said  he. 

Immediately  Mr.  Orcutt,  who  up  to  the  last  moment 
had  felt  his  case  as  secure  as  if  it  had  indeed  been 
founded  on  a  rock,  bounded  to  his  feet,  white  as  the 
witness  herself. 

"  I  object  !  "  he  cried.  "  The  witness  thus  recalled  by 
the  counsel  of  the  prosecution  has  had  ample  opportunity 
to  lay  before  the  court  all  the  evidence  in  her  possession. 
I  submit  it  to  the  court  whether  my  learned  opponent 
should  not  have  exhausted  his  witness  before  he  rested 
his  case." 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  415 

"  Mr.  Ferris,"  asked  the  Judge,  turning  to  the  District 
Attorney,  "  do  you  recall  this  witness  for  the  purpose  of 
introducing  fresh  testimony  in  support  of  your  case  or 
merely  to  disprove  the  defence  ?" 

"  Your  honor,"  was  the  District  Attorney's  reply,  "  I 
ought  to  say  in  fairness  to  my  adversary  and  to  the  court, 
that  since  the  case  was  closed  a  fact  has  come  to  my 
knowledge  of  so  startling  and  conclusive  a  nature  that  I 
feel  bound  to  lay  it  before  the  jury.  From  this  witness 
alone  can  we  hope  to  glean  this  fact  ;  and  as  I  had  no 
information  on  which  to  base  a  question  concerning  it  in 
her  former  examination,  I  beg  the  privilege  of  reopening 
my  case  to  that  extent." 

"  Then  the  evidence  you  desire  to  submit  is  not  in  re- 
buttal ?"  queried  the  Judge. 

"  I  do  not  like  to  say  that,"  rejoined  the  District 
Attorney,  adroitly.  "  I  think  it  may  bear  directly  upon 
the  question  whether  the  prisoner  could  catch  the  train 
at  Monteith  Quarry  if  he  left  the  widow's  house  after  the 
murder.  If  the  evidence  I  am  about  to  offer  be  true,  he 
certainly  could." 

Thoroughly  alarmed  now  and  filled  with  the  dismay 
which  a  mysterious  threat  is  always  calculated  to  pro- 
duce, Mr.  Orcutt  darted  a  wild  look  of  inquiry  at  Imo- 
gene,  and  finding  her  immovable  behind  her  thick  veil, 
turned  about  and  confronted  the  District  Attorney  with 
a  most  sarcastic  smile  upon  his  blanched  and  trembling 
lips. 


4l6  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Does  my  learned  friend  suppose  the  court  will  re- 
ceive any  such  ambiguous  explanation  as  this  ?  If  the 
testimony  sought  from  this  witness  is  by  way  of  rebuttal, 
let  him  say  so  ;  but  if  it  is  not,  let  him  be  frank  enough 
to  admit  it,  that  I  may  in  turn  present  my  objections 
to  the  introduction  of  any  irrelevant  evidence  at  this 
time." 

"  The  testimony  I  propose  to  present  through  this  wit- 
ness is  in  the  way  of  rebuttal,"  returned  Mr  Ferris, 
severely.  "  The  argument  advanced  by  the  defence,  that 
the  prisoner  could  not  have  left  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house 
at  ten  minutes  before  twelve  and  arrived  at  Monteith 
Quarry  Station  at  twenty  minutes  past  one,  is  not  a  tena- 
ble one,  and  I  purpose  to  prove  it  by  this  witness." 

Mr.  Orcutt's  look  of  anxiety  changed  to  one  of  mingled 
amazement  and  incredulity. 

"  By  //lis  witness  !  You  have  chosen  a  peculiar  one  for 
the  purpose,"  he  ironically  exclaimed,  more  and  more 
shaken  from  his  self-possession  by  the  quiet  bearing 
of  his  opponent,  and  the  silent  air  of  waiting  which 
marked  the  stately  figure  of  her  whom,  as  he  had 
hitherto  believed,  he  thoroughly  comprehended.  "  Your 
Honor,"  he  continued,  "  I  withdraw  my  objections  ;  I 
should  really  like  to  hear  how  Miss  Dare  or  any  lady  can 
give  evidence  on  this  point." 

And  he  sank  back  into  his  seat  with  a  look  at  his 
client  in  which  professional  bravado  strangely  struggled 
with  something  even  deeper  than  alarm. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  417 

"  This  must  be  an  exciting  moment  to  the  prisoner," 
whispered  Hickory  to  Byrd. 

"  So,  so.  But  mark  his  control,  will  you  ?  He  is  less 
cut  up  than  Orcutt." 

"  Look  at  his  eyes,  though.  If  any  thing  could  pierce 
that  veil  of  hers,  you  would  think  such  a  glance  might." 

"  Ah,  he  his  trying  his  influence  over  her  at  last." 

*'  But  it  is  too  late." 

Meantime  the  District  Attorney  had  signified  again  to 
Miss  Dare  his  desire  that  she  should  take  the  stand. 
Slowly,  and  like  a  person  in  a  dream,  she  arose,  unloosed 
her  veil,  dragged  it  from  before  her  set  features,  and 
stepped  mechanically  forward  to  the  place  assigned  her. 
What  was  there  in  the  face  thus  revealed  that  called 
down  an  instantaneous  silence  upon  the  court,  and  made 
the  momentary  pause  that  ensued  memorable  in  the 
minds  of  all  present  ?  It  was  not  that  she  was  so  pale, 
though  her  close-fitting  black  dress,  totally  unrelieved  by 
any  suspicion  of  white,  was  of  a  kind  to  bring  out 
any  startling  change  in  her  complexion  ;  nor  was  there 
visible  in  her  bearing  any  trace  of  the  feverish  excite- 
ment which  had  characterized  it  the  evening  before  ; 
yet  of  all  the  eyes  that  were  fixed  upon  her — and  there 
were  many  in  that  crowd  whose  only  look  a  moment 
before  had  been  one  of  heartless  curiosity — there  were 
none  which  were  not  filled  with  compassion  and  more  or 
less  dread. 

Meanwhile,   she  remained  like  a  statue  on  the  spot 


41 8  HAND  AND   RING. 

where  she  had  taken  her  stand,  and  her  eyes,  which 
in  her  former  examination  had  met  the  court  with  the 
unflinching  gaze  of  an  automaton,  were  lowered  till  the 
lashes  swept  her  cheek. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  asked  the  District  Attorney,  as  soon  as 
he  could  recover  from  his  own  secret  emotions  of  pity 
and  regret,  "  will  you  tell  us  where  you  were  at  the 
hour  of  noon  on  the  morning  Mrs.  Clemmens  was 
murdered  ? " 

Before  she  could  answer,  before  in  fact  her  stiff  and 
icy  lips  could  part,  Mr.  Orcutt  had  risen  impetuously  to 
his  feet,  like  a  man  bound  to  contend  every  step  of  the 
way  with  the  unknown  danger  that  menaced  him. 

"  I  object  !  "  he  cried,  in  the  changed  voice  of  a 
deeply  disturbed  man,  while  those  who  had  an  interest  in 
the  prisoner  at  this  juncture,  could  not  but  notice  that 
he,  too,  showed  signs  of  suppressed  feeling,  and  for  the 
first  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  trial,  absolutely 
found  his  self-command  insufficient  to  keep  down  the 
rush  of  color  that  swefit  up  to  his  swarthy  cheek. 

"The  question,"  continued  Mr.  Orcutt,  "is  not  to 
elicit  testimony  in  rebuttal." 

"  Will  my  learned  friend  allow  the  witness  to  give  her 
answer,  instead  of  assuming'  what  it  is  to  be  ? " 

"I  will  not,"  retorted  his  adversary.  "A  child  could 
see  that  such  a  question  is  not  admissible  at  this  stage  of 
the  case." 

"  1  am  sure  my  learned  friend  would  not  wish  me  to 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  419 

associate  him  with  any  such  type  of  inexperience  ? " 
suggested  Mr.  Ferris,  grimly. 

But  the  sarcasm,  which  at  one  time  would  have  called 
forth  a  stinging  retort  from  Mr.  Orcutt,  passed  unheeded. 
The  great  lawyer  was  fighting  for  his  life,  for  his  heart's 
life,  for  the  love  and  hand  of  Imogene — a  recompense 
which  at  this  moment  her  own  unconsidered  action,  or 
the  constraining  power  of  a  conscience  of  whose  might 
he  had  already  received  such  heart-rending  manifestation, 
seemed  about  to  snatch  from  his  grasp  forever.  Turning 
to  the  Judge,  he  said  : 

"  I  will  not  delay  the  case  by  bandying  words  with  my 
esteemed  friend,  but  appeal  at  once  to  the  Court  as  to 
whether  the  whereabouts  of  Miss  Dare  on  that  fatal 
morning  can  have  any  thing  to  do  with  the  defence  we 
have  proved." 

"  Your  Honor,"  commenced  the  District  Attorney, 
calmly  following  the  lead  of  his  adversary,  "  I  am  ready 
to  stake  my  reputation  on  the  declaration  that  this  wit- 
ness is  in  possession  of  a  fact  that  overturns  the  whole 
fabric  of  the  defence.  If  the  particular  question  I  have 
made  use  of,  in  my  endeavor  to  elicit  this  fact,  is  displeas- 
ing to  my  friend,  I  will  venture  upon  another  less 
ambiguous,  if  more  direct  and  perhaps  leading."  And 
turning  again  to  the  witness,  Mr.  Ferris  calmly  inquired  : 

"Did  you  or  did  you  not  see  the  prisoner  on  the 
morning  of  the  assault,  at  a  time  distinctly  known  by  you 
to  be  after  ten  minutes  to  twelve  ? " 


420  HAND   AND   RING. 

It  was  out.  The  line  of  attack  meditated  by  Mr. 
Ferris  was  patent  to  everybody.  A  murmur  of  surprise 
and  interest  swept  through  the  court-room,  while  Mr. 
Orcutt,  who  in  spite  of  his  vague  fears  was  any  thing  but 
prepared  for  a  thrust  of  this  vital  nature,  started  and 
cast  short  demanding  looks  from  Imogene  to  Mansell,  as 
if  he  would  ask  them  what  fact  this  was  which  through 
ignorance  or  presumption  they  had  conspired  to  keep 
from  him.  The  startled  look  which  he  surprised  on  the 
stern  face  of  the  prisoner,  showed  him  there  was  every 
thing  to  fear  in  her  reply,  and  bounding  again  to  his  feet, 
he  was  about  to  make  some  further  attempt  to  stave  off 
the  impending  calamity,  when  the  rich  voice  of  Imogene 
was  heard  saying : 

"  Gentlemen,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  tell  my  story  un- 
hindered, I  think  I  shall  soonest  satisfy  both  the  District 
Attorney  and  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner." 

And  raising  her  eyes  with  a  slow  and  heavy  movement 
from  the  floor,  she  fixed  them  in  a  meaning  way  upon  the 
latter. 

At  once  convinced  that  he  had  been  unnecessarily 
alarmed,  Mr.  Orcutt  sank  back  into  his  seat,  and  Imogene 
slowly  proceeded. 

She  commenced  in  a  forced  tone  and  with  a  sudden 
quick  shudder  that  made  her  words  come  hesitatingly 
and  with  strange  breaks  :  "  I  have  been  asked — two  ques- 
tions by  Mr.  Ferris — I  prefer — to  answer  the  first.  He 
asked  me — where  I  was  at  the  hour  Mrs.  Clemmens  was 
murdered." 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  42I 

She  paused  so  long  one  had  time  to  count  her  breaths 
as  they  came  in  gasps  to  her  white  lips. 

"  I  have  no  further  desire  to  hide  from  you  the  truth. 
I  was  with  Mrs.  Clemmens  in  her  own  house." 

At  this  acknowledgment  so  astonishing,  and  besides  so 
totally  different  from  the  one  he  had  been  led  to  expect, 
Mr.  Ferris  started  as  if  a  thunder-bolt  had  fallen  at  his 
feet. 

"  In  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  ! "  he  repeated,  amid  the 
excited  hum  of  a  hundred  murmuring  voices.  "  Did  you 
say,  in  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  ?" 

"  Yes,"  she  returned,  with  a  wild,  ironical  smile  that  at 
once  assured  Mr.  Ferris  of  his  helplessness.  "  I  am  on 
oath  1WW,  and  I  assert  that  on  the  day  and  at  the 
hour  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  murdered,  I  was  in  her  house 
and  in  her  dining-room.  I  had  come  there  secretly,"  she 
proceeded,  with  a  sudden  feverish  fluency  that  robbed 
Mr.  Ferris  of  speech,  and  in  fact  held  all  her  auditors 
spell-bound.  "  I  had  been  spending  an  hour  or  so  at 
Professor  Darling's,  whose  house  in  West  Side  is,  as 
many  here  know,  at  the  very  end  of  Summer  Avenue,  and 
close  to  the  woods  that  run  along  back  of  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
cottage.  I  had  been  sitting  alone  in  the  observatory, 
which  is  at  the  top  of  one  of  the  towers,  but  being  sud- 
denly seized  with  a  desire  to  see  the  widow  and  make 
that  promised  attempt  at  persuading  her  to  reconsider 
her  decision  in  regard  to  the  money  her — her — the 
prisoner  wanted,  I  came  down,  and  unknown  to  any  one 


422  HAND   AND   RING. 

in  the  house,  stole  away  to  the  woods  and  so  to  the 
widow's  cottage.  It  was  noon  when  I  got  there,  or  very 
near  it,  for  her  company,  if  she  had  had  any,  was  gone, 
and  she  was  engaged  in  setting  the  clock  where " 

Why  did  she  pause  ?  The  District  Attorney,  utterly 
stupefied  by  his  surprise,  had  made  no  sign  ;  neither  had 
Mr.  Orcutt.  Indeed,  it  looked  as  if  the  latter  could 
not  have  moved,  much  less  spoken,  even  if  he  had  de- 
sired it.  Thought,  feeling,  life  itself,  seemed  to  be  at  a 
standstill  within  him  as  he  sat  with  a  face  like  clay,  wait- 
ing for  words  whose  import  he  perhaps  saw  foreshadowed 
in  her  wild  and  terrible  mien.  But  though  his  aspect  was 
enough  to  stop  her,  it  was  not  upon  him  she  was  gazing 
when  the  words  tripped  on  her  lips.  It  was  upon  the 
prisoner,  on  the  man  who  up  to  this  time  had  borne  him- 
self with  such  iron-like  composure  and  reserve,  but  who 
now,  with  every  sign  of  feeling  and  alarm,  had  started 
forward  and  stood  surveying  her,  with  his  hand  uplifted 
in  the  authoritative  manner  of  a  master. 

The  next  instant  he  sank  back,  feeling  the  eye  of  the 
Judge  upon  him  ;  but  the  signal  had  been  made,  and 
many  in  that  court-room  looked  to  see  Imogene  falter  or 
break  down.  But  she,  although  fascinated,  perhaps 
moved,  by  this  hint  of  feeling  from  one  who  had  hitherto 
met  all  the  exigencies  of  the  hour  with  a  steady  and  firm 
composure,  did  not  continue  silent  at  his  bidding.  On 
the  contrary,  her  purpose,  whatever  it  was,  seemed  to  ac- 
quire new  force,  for  turning  from  him  with  a  strange,  un- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  423 

earthly  glare  on  her  face,  she  fixed  her  glances  on  the 
jury  and  went  steadily  on. 

"I  have  said,"  she  began,  "that  Mrs.  Clemmens  was 
winding  her  clock.  When  I  came  in  she  stepped  down, 
and  a  short  and  angry  colloquy  commenced  between  us. 
She  did  not  like  my  coming  there.  She  did  not  appreci- 
ate my  interest  in  her  nephew.  She  made  me  furious, 
frenzied,  mad.  I — I  turned  away — then  I  came  back. 
She  was  standing  with  her  face  lifted  toward  her  clock,  as 
though  she  no  longer  heeded  or  remembered  my  pres- 
ence. I — I  don't  know  what  came  to  me  ;  whether  it 
was  hatred  or  love  that  maddened  my  brain — but " 

She  did  not  finish  ;  she  did  not  need  to.  The  look  she 
gave,  the  attitude  she  took,  the  appalling  gesture  which 
she  made,  supplied  the  place  of  language.  In  an  instant 
Mr.  Ferris,  Mr.  Orcutt,  all  the  many  and  confused  specta- 
tors who  hung  upon  her  words  as  if  spell-bound,  realized 
that  instead  of  giving  evidence  inculpating  the  prisoner, 
she  was  giving  evidence  accusing  herself  ;  that,  in  other 
words,  Imogene  Dare,  goaded  to  madness  by  the  fearful 
alternative  of  either  destroying  her  lover  or  sacrificing 
herself,  had  yielded  to  the  claims  of  her  love  or  her  con- 
science, and  in  hearing  of  judge  and  jury,  proclaimed 
herself  to  be  the  murderess  of  Mrs.  Clemmens. 

The  moment  that  followed  was  frightful.  The  prisoner, 
who  was  probably  the  only  man  present  who  foresaw  her 
intention  when  she  began  to  speak,  had  sunk  back  into 
his  seat  and  covered  his  face  with  his  hands  long  before 


424  HAND   AND   RING. 

she  reached  the  fatal  declaration.  But  the  spectacle  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Orcutt  was  enough,  as  with  eyes  dilated 
and  lips  half  parted  in  consternation,  he  stood  before 
them  a  victim  of  overwhelming  emotion  ;  so  overcome, 
indeed,  as  scarcely  to  be  able  to  give  vent  to  the  one  low 
and  memorable  cry  that  involuntarily  left  his  lips  as  the 
full  realization  of  what  she  had  done  smote  home  to  his 
stricken  breast. 

As  for  Mr.  Ferris,  he  stood  dumb,  absolutely  robbed  of 
speech  by  this  ghastly  confession  he  had  unwillingly 
called  from  his  witness'  lips  ;  while  slowly  from  end  to 
end  of  that  court-room  the  wave  of  horror  spread,  till 
Imogene,  her  cause,  and  that  of  the  wretched  prisoner 
himself,  seemed  swallowed  up  in  one  fearful  tide  of  unre- 
ality and  nightmare. 

The  first  gleam  of  relief  came  from  the  Judge. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  said  he,  in  his  slow,  kindly  way  that 
nothing  could  impair,  "  do  you  realize  the  nature  of  the 
evidence  you  have  given  to  the  court  ?  " 

Her  slowly  falling  head  and  white  face,  from  which  all 
the  fearful  excitement  was  slowly  ebbing  in  a  dead  de- 
spair, gave  answer  for  her. 

"  I  fear  that  you  are  not  in  a  condition  to  realize  the 
effect  of  your  words,"  the  Judge  went  on.  "  Sympathy  for 
the  prisoner  or  the  excitement  of  being  recalled  to  the 
stand  has  unnerved  or  confused  you.  Take  time,  Miss 
Dare,  the  court  will  wait  ;  reconsider  your  words,  and 
then  tell  us  the  truth  about  this  matter." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  425 

But  Imogene,  with  white  lips  and  drooped  head, 
answered  hurriedly : 

"  I  have  nothing  to  consider.  I  have  told,  or  attempt- 
ed to  tell,  how  Mrs.  Clemmens  came  to  her  death.  She 
was  struck  down  by  me  ;  Craik  Mansell  there  is  inno- 
cent." 

At  this  repetition  in  words  of  what  she  had  before 
merely  intimated  by  a  gesture,  the  Judge  ceased  his  ques- 
tions, and  the  horror  of  the  multitude  found  vent  in  one 
long,  low,  but  irrepressible  murmur.  Taking  advantage 
of  the  momentary  disturbance,  Byrd  turned  to  his  col- 
league with  the  agitated  inquiry  : 

"  Hickory,  is  this  what  you  have  had  in  your  mind  for 
the  last  few  days  ?  " 

"  This,"  repeated  the  other,  with  an  air  of  careful  con- 
sideration, assumed,  as  Byrd  thought,  to  conceal  any 
emotion  which  he  might  have  felt  ;  "  no,  no,  not  really. 
I — I  don't  know  what  I  thought.  Not  this  though."  And 
he  fixed  his  eyes  upon  Imogene's  fallen  countenance, 
with  an  expression  of  mingled  doubt  and  wonder,  as 
baffling  in  its  nature  as  the  tone  of  voice  he  had  used. 

"  But,"  stammered  Byrd,  with  an  earnestness  that  al- 
most partook  of  the  nature  of  pleading,  "  she  is  not 
speaking  the  truth,  of  course.  What  we  heard  her  say 
in  the  hut " 

"  Hush  !  "  interposed  the  other,  with  a  significant  gest- 
ure and  a  sudden  glance  toward  the  prisoner  and  his 
counsel  ;  "  watching  is  better  than  talking  just  now. 
Besides,  Orcutt  is  going  to  speak." 


426  HAND   AND   RING. 

It  was  so.  After  a  short  and  violent  conflict  with  the 
almost  overwhehning  emotions  that  had  crushed  upon 
him  with  the  words  and  actions  of  Imogene,  the  great 
lawyer  had  summoned  up  sufficient  control  over  himself 
to  reassume  the  duties  of  his  position  and  face  once  more 
the  expectant  crowd,  and  the  startled,  if  not  thoroughly 
benumbed,  jury. 

His  first  words  had  the  well-known  ring,  and,  like  a 
puff  of  cool  air  through  a  heated  atmosphere,  at  once  re- 
stored the  court-room  to  its  usual  condition  of  formality 
and  restraint. 

"This  is  not  evidence,  but  the  raving  of  frenzy,"  he 
said,  in  impassioned  tones.  "  The  witness  has  been  tort- 
ured by  the  demands  of  the  prosecution,  till  she  is  no 
longer  responsible  for  her  words."  And  turning  toward 
the  District  Attorney,  who,  at  the  first  sound  of  his  ad- 
versary's voice,  had  roused  himself  from  the  stupor  into 
which  he  had  been  thrown  by  the  fearful  and  unexpected 
turn  which  Imogene's  confession  had  taken,  he  con- 
tinued :  "  If  my  learned  friend  is  not  lost  to  all  feelings 
of  humanity,  he  will  withdraw  from  the  stand  a  witness 
laboring  under  a  mental  aberration  of  so  serious  a 
nature." 

Mr.  Ferris  was  an  irritable  man,  but  he  was  touched 
with  sympathy  for  his  friend,  reeling  under  so  heavy  a 
blow.  He  therefore  forbore  to  notice  this  taunt  save  by 
a  low  bow,  but  turned  at  once  to  the  Judge. 

"Your  Honor,"  said  he,  "I  desire  to  be  understood  by 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  427 

the  Court,  that  the  statement  which  has  just  been  made 
in  your  hearing  by  this  witness,  is  as  much  of  a  surprise 
to  me  as  to  any  one  in  this  court-room.  The  fact  which 
I  proposed  to  elicit  from  her  testimony  was  of  an  entirely 
different  nature.  In  the  conversation  which  we  held  last 
night " 

But  Mr.  Orcutt,  vacillating  between  his  powerful  con- 
cern for  Imogene,  and  his  duty  to  his  client,  would  not 
allow  the  other  to  proceed. 

"  I  object,"  said  he,  "  to  any  attempt  at  influencing 
the  jury  by  the  statement  of  any  conversation  which  may 
have  passed  between  the  District  Attorney  and  the  wit- 
ness. From  its  effects  we  may  judge  something  of  its 
nature,  but  with  its  details  we  have  nothing  to  do." 

And  raising  his  voice  till  it  filled  the  room  like  a  clarion, 
Mr.  Orcutt  said  : 

"  The  moment  is  too  serious  for  wrangling.  A  spec- 
tacle, the  most  terrible  that  can  be  presented  to  the  eyes 
of' man,  is  before  you.  A  young,  beautiful,  and  hitherto 
honored  woman,  caught  in  the  jaws  of  a  cruel  fate  and 
urged  on  by  the  emotions  of  her  sex,  which  turn  ever 
toward  self-sacrifice,  has,  in  a  moment  of  mistaken  zeal 
or  frantic  terror,  allowed  herself  to  utter  words  which 
sound  like  a  criminal  confession.  May  it  please  your 
Honor  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  this  is  an  act  to  awaken 
compassion  in  the  breast  of  every  true  man.  Neither  my 
client  nor  myself  can  regard  it  in  any  other  light.  Though 
his  case  were  ten  times  more  critical  than  it  is,  and  con- 


428  HAND   AND   RING. 

demnation  awaited  him  at  your  hands  instead  of  a  tri- 
umphant acquittal,  he  is  not  the  man  I  beUeve  him,  if  he 
would  consent  to  accept  a  deliverance  founded  upon 
utterances  so  manifestly  frenzied  and  devoid  of  truth. 
I  therefore  repeat  the  objection  I  have  before  urged.  I 
ask  your  Honor  now  to  strike  out  all  this  testimony  as 
irrelevant  in  rebuttal,  and  I  beg  our  learned  friend  to 
close  an  examination  as  unprofitable  to  his  own  cause  as  to 
mine." 

"  I  agree  with  my  friend,"  returned  Mr.  Ferris,  "  that 
the  moment  is  one  unfit  for  controversy.  If  it  please  the 
Court,  therefore,  I  will  withdraw  the  witness,  though  by 
so  doing  I  am  forced  to  yield  all  hope  of  eliciting  the  im- 
portant fact  I  had  relied  upon  to  rebut  the  defence." 

And  obedient  to  the  bow  of  acquiescence  he  received 
from  the  Judge,  the  District  Attorney  turned  to  Miss 
Dare  and  considerately  requested  her  to  leave  the  stand. 

But  she,  roused  by  the  sound  of  her  name  perhaps, 
looked  up,  and  meeting  the  eye  of  the  Judge,  said  : 

"  Pardon  me,  your  Honor,  but  I  do  not  desire  to  leave 
the  stand  till  I  have  made  clear  to  all  who  hear  me  that  it 
is  I,  not  the  prisoner,  who  am  responsible  for  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  death.  The  agony  which  I  have  been  forced  to 
undergo  in  giving  testimony  against  him,  has  earned  me 
the  right  to  say  the  words  that  prove  his  innocence  and 
my  own  guilt." 

"  But,"  said  the  Judge,  "  we  do  not  consider  you  in  any 
condition  to  give  testimony  in  court  to-day,  even  against 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  429 

yourself.  If  what  you  say  is  true,  you  shall  have  ample 
opportunities  hereafter  to  confirm  and  establish  your 
statements,  for  you  must  know.  Miss  Dare,  that  no  con- 
fession of  this  nature  will  be  considered  sufficient  without 
testimony  corroborative  of  its  truth." 

**  But,  your  Honor,"  she  returned,  with  a  dreadful  calm- 
ness, "  I  have  corroborative  testimony."  And  amid  the 
startled  looks  of  all  present,  she  raised  her  hand  and 
pointed  with  steady  forefinger  at  the  astounded  and  by- 
no-means  gratified  Hickory.  "  Let  that  man  be  recalled," 
she  cried,  "  and  asked  to  repeat  the  conversation  he  had 
with  a  young  servant-girl  called  Roxana,  in  Professor 
Darling's  observatory  some  ten  weeks  ago." 

The  suddenness  of  her  action,  the  calm  assurance  with 
which  it  was  made,  together  with  the  intention  it  evinced 
of  summoning  actual  evidence  to  substantiate  her  con- 
fession, almost  took  away  the  breath  of  the  assembled 
multitude.  Even  Mr.  Orcutt  seemed  shaken  by  it,  and 
stood  looking  from  the  outstretched  hand  of  this  woman 
he  so  adored,  to  the  abashed  countenance  of  the  rough 
detective,  with  a  wonder  that  for  the  first  time  betrayed 
the  presence  of  alarm.  Indeed,  to  him  as  to  others,  the 
moment  was  fuller  of  horror  than  when  she  made  her  first 
self-accusation,  for  what  at  that  time  partook  of  the 
vagueness  of  a  dream,  seemed  to  be  acquiring  the  sub- 
stance of  an  awful  reality. 

Imogene  alone  remained  unmoved.  Still  with  her  eyes 
fixed  on  Hickory,  she  continued  : 


430  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  He  has  not  told  you  all  he  knows  about  this  matter, 
any  more  than  I.  If  my  word  needs  corroboration,  look 
to  him." 

And  taking  advantage  of  the  sensation  which  this  last 
appeal  occasioned,  she  waited  where  she  was  for  the 
Judge  to  speak,  with  all  the  calmness  of  one  who  has 
nothing  more  to  fear  or  hope  for  in  this  world. 

But  the  Judge  sat  aghast  at  this  spectacle  of  youth  and 
beauty  insisting  upon  its  own  guilt,  and  neither  Mr.  Fer- 
ris nor  Mr.  Orcutt  having  words  for  this  emergency,  a 
silence,  deep  as  the  feeling  which  had  been  aroused, 
gradually  settled  over  the  whole  court.  It  was  fast  be- 
coming oppressive,  when  suddenly  a  voice,  low  but  firm, 
and  endowed  with  a  strange  power  to  awake  and  hold  the 
attention,  was  heard  speaking  in  that  quarter  of  the  room 
whence  Mr.  Orcutt's  commanding  tones  had  so  often 
issued.  It  was  an  unknown  voice,  and  for  a  minute  a 
doubt  seemed  to  rest  upon  the  assembled  crowd  as  to 
whom  it  belonged. 

But  the  change  that  had  come  into  Imogene's  face,  as 
well  as  the  character  of  the  words  that  were  uttered,  soon 
convinced  them  it  was  the  prisoner  himself.  With  a  start, 
every  one  turned  in  the  direction  of  the  dock.  The 
sight  that  met  their  eyes  seemed  a  fit  culmination  of  the 
scene  through  which  they  had  just  passed.  Erect,  noble, 
as  commanding  in  appearance  and  address  as  the  woman 
who  still  held  her  place  on  the  witness  stand,  Craik  Man- 
sell  faced  the  judge  and  jury  with  a  quiet,  resolute,  but 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  4$ I 

courteous  assurance,  that  seemed  at  once  to  rob  him  of 
the  character  of  a  criminal,  and  set  him  on  a  par  with  the 
able  and  honorable  men  by  whom  he  was  surrounded. 
Yet  his  words  weTe  not  those  of  a  belied  man,  nor  was 
his  plea  one  of  innocence. 

"  I  ask  pardon,"  he  was  saying,  "  for  addressing  the 
court  directly  ;  first  of  all,  the  pardon  of  my  counsel, 
whose  ability  has  never  been  so  conspicuous  as  in  this 
case,  and  whose  just  resentment,  if  he  were  less  mag- 
nanimous and  noble,  I  feel  I  am  now  about  to  incur." 

Mr.  Orcutt  turned  to  him  a  look  of  surprise  and 
severity,  but  the  prisoner  saw  nothing  but  the  face  of 
the  Judge,  and  continued  : 

"  I  would  have  remained  silent  if  the  disposition  which 
your  Honor  and  the  District  Attorney  proposed  to  make 
of  this  last  testimony  were  not  in  danger  of  reconsidera- 
tion from  the  appeal  which  the  witness  has  just  made. 
I  believe,  with  you,  that  her  testimony  should  be  dis- 
regarded. I  intend,  if  I  have  the  power,  that  it  shall  be 
disegarded." 

The  Judge  held  up  his  hand,  as  if  to  warn  the  prisoner 
and  was  about  to  speak. 

*'  I  entreat  that  I  may  be  heard,"  said  Mansell,  with 
the  utmost  calmness.  "  I  beg  the  Court  not  to  imagine 
that  I  am  about  to  imitate  the  witness  in  any  sudden  or 
ill-considered  attempt  at  a  confession.  All  I  intend  is 
that  her  self-accusation  shall  not  derive  strength  or 
importance  from   any   doubts   of  my  guilt  which  may 


432  HAND  AND   RING. 

spring  from  the  defence  which  has  been  interposed  in 
my  behalf." 

Mr.  Orcutt,  who,  from  the  moment  the  prisoner  began 
to  speak,  had  given  evidences  of  a  great  indecision  as  to 
whether  he  should  allow  his  client  to  continue  or  not, 
started  at  these  words,  so  unmistakably  pointing  toward 
a  demolishment  of  his  whole  case,  and  hurriedly  rose. 
But  a  glance  at  Imogene  seemed  to  awaken  a  new  train 
of  thought,  and  he  as  hurriedly  reseated  himself. 

The  prisoner,  seeing  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from  his 
counsel's  interference,  and  meeting  with  no  rebuke  from 
the  Judge,  went  calmly  on  : 

"  Yesterday  I  felt  differently  in  regard  to  this  matter. 
If  I  could  be  saved  from  my  fate  by  a  defence  seemingly 
so  impregnable,  I  was  willing  to  be  so  saved,  but  to-day 
I  would  be  a  coward  and  a  disgrace  to  my  sex  if,  in  face 
of  the  generous  action  of  this  woman,  I  allowed  a  false- 
hood of  whatever  description  to  place  her  in  peril,  or  to 
stand  between  me  and  the  doom  that  probably  awaits 
me.  Sir,"  he  continued,  turning  for  the  first  time  to 
Mr.  Orcutt,  with  a  gesture  of  profound  respect,  "you 
had  been  told  that  the  path  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house 
to  the  bridge,  and  so  on  to  Monteith  Quarry  Station, 
could  not  be  traversed  in  ninety  minutes,  and  you  be- 
lieved it.  You  were  not  wrong.  It  cannot  be  gone  over 
in  that  time.  But  I  now  say  to  your  Honor  and  to  the 
jury,  that  the  distance  from  my  aunt's  house  to  the 
Quarry  Station  can  be  made  in  that  number  of  minutes 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  433 

if  a  way  can  be  found  to  cross  the  river  without  going 
around  by  the  bridge.  I  know,"  he  proceeded,  as  a 
torrent  of  muttered  exclamations  rose  on  his  ear,  fore- 
most among  which  was  that  of  the  much-discomfited 
Hickory,  "  that  to  many  of  you,  to  all  of  you,  perhaps, 
all  means  for  doing  this  seem  to  be  lacking  to  the  chance 
wayfarer,  but  if  there  were  a  lumberman  here,  he  would 
tell  you  that  the  logs  which  are  frequently  floated  down 
this  stream  to  the  station  afford  an  easy  means  of  pas- 
sage to  one  accustomed  to  ride  them,  as  I  have  been 
when  a  lad,  during  the  year  I  spent  in  the  Maine  woods. 
At  all  events,  it  was  upon  a  log  that  happened  to  be 
lodged  against  the  banks,  and  which  I  pushed  out  into 
the  stream  by  means  of  the  '  pivy  '  or  long  spiked  pole 
which  I  found  lying  in  the  grass  at  its  side,  that  I  crossed 
the  river  on  that  fatal  day  ;  and  if  the  detective,  who  has 
already  made  such  an  effort  to  controvert  the  defence, 
will  risk  an  attempt  at  this  expedient  for  cutting  short 
his  route,  I  have  no  doubt  he  will  be  able  to  show 
you  that  a  man  can  pass  from  Mrs,  Clemmens'  house 
to  the  station  at  Monteith  Quarry,  not  only  in  ninety 
minutes,  but  in  less,  if  the  exigencies  of  the  case  seem  to 
demand  it,     I  did  it." 

And  without  a  glance  at  Imogene,  but  with  an  air 
almost  lofty  in  its  pride  and  manly  assertion,  the  prisoner 
sank  back  into  his  seat,  and  resumed  once  more  his  quiet 
and  unshaken  demeanor. 

This  last  change  in  the  kaleidoscope  of  events,  that 


J 34  HAND   AND    RING. 

had  been  shifting  before  their  eyes  for  the  last  half 
hour,  was  too  much  for  the  continued  equanimity  of 
a  crowd  already  worked  up  into  a  state  of  feverish 
excitement.  It  had  become  apparent  that  by  stripping 
away  his  defence,  Mansell  left  himself  naked  to  the  law. 
In  this  excitement  of  the  jury,  consequent  upon  the 
self-accusation  of  Imogene,  the  prisoner's  admission 
might  prove  directly  fatal  to  him.  He  was  on  trial 
for  this  crime  ;  public  justice  demanded  blood  for 
blood,  and  public  excitement  clamored  for  a  victim. 
It  was  dangerous  to  toy  with  a  feeling  but  one  degree 
removed  from  the  sentiment  of  a  mob.  The  jury  might 
not  stop  to  sympathize  with  the  self-abnegation  of  these 
two  persons  willing  to  die  for  each  other.  They  might 
say  :  "  The  way  is  clear  as  to  the  prisoner  at  least  ;  he 
has  confessed  his  defence  is  false  ;  the  guilty  interpose 
false  defences  ;  we  are  acquit  before  God  and  men  if  we 
convict  him  out  of  his  own  mouth." 

The  crowd  in  the  court-room  was  saying  all  this  and 
more,  each  man  to  his  neighbor,  A  clamor  of  voices 
next  to  impossible  to  suppress  rose  over  the  whole  room, 
and  not  even  the  efforts  of  the  officers  of  the  court, 
exerted  to  their  full  power  in  the  maintenance  of  order, 
could  have  hushed  the  storm,  had  not  the  spectators 
become  mute  with  expectation  at  seeing  Mr.  Ferris  and 
Mr.  Orcutt,  summoned  by  a  sign  from  the  Judge,  advance 
to  the  front  of  the  bench  and  engage  in  an  earnest  con- 
ference with  the  Court.     A  few  minutes  afterward  the 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  435 

Judge  turned  to  the  jury  and  announced  that  the  dis- 
closures of  the  morning  demanded  a  careful  consideration 
by  the  prosecution,  that  an  adjournment  was  undoubtedly 
indispensable,  and  that  the  jury  should  refrain  from  any 
discussion  of  the  case,  even  among  themselves,  until  it  was 
finally  given  them  under  the  charge  of  the  Court.  The 
jury  expressed  their  concurrence  by  an  almost  unanimous 
gesture  of  assent,  and  the  crier  proclaimed  an  adjourn- 
ment until  the  next  day  at  ten  o'clock. 

Imogene,  still  sitting  in  the  witness  chair,  saw  the 
prisoner  led  forth  by  the  jailer  without  being  able  to 
gather,  in  the  whirl  of  the  moment,  any  indication  that  her 
dreadful  sacrifice — for  she  had  made  wreck  of  her  life  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world  whether  her  confession  were  true  or 
false — had  accomplished  any  thing  save  to  drive  the  man 
she  loved  to  the  verge  of  that  doom  from  which  she  had 
sought  to  deliver  him. 


436  HAND   AND   RING. 


XXXV. 


PRO    AND    CON. 


Hamlet.— Do  you  see  yonder  cloud  that's  almost  in  shape  of  a  camel  ? 

Polonius.—'&y  the  mass,  and  'tis  like  a  camel  indeed. 

//a?7;/^/'.— Methinks  it  is  like  a  weasel. 

Polonius. — It  is  back'd  like  a  weasel.  —Hamlet. 

SHORTLY  after  the  adjournment  of  court,  Mr. 
Ferris  summoned  the  two  detectives  to  his  office. 

"  We  have  a  serious  question  before  us  to  decide,"  said 
he.  "  Are  we  to  go  on  with  the  prosecution  or  are  we  to 
stop  ?     1  should  like  to  hear  your  views  on  the  subject." 

Hickory  was,  as  usual,  the  first  to  speak. 

"  I  should  say,  stop,"  he  cried.  "  This  fresh  applicant 
for  the  honor  of  having  slain  the  Widow  Clemmens 
deserves  a  hearing  at  least." 

"But,"  hurriedly  interposed  Byrd,  "you  don't  give  any 
credit  to  her  story  now,  even  if  you  did  before  the 
prisoner  spoke  ?  You  know  she  did  not  commit  the  crime 
herself,  whatever  she  may  choose  to  declare  in  her 
anxiety  to  shield  the  prisoner.  I  hope,  sir,"  he  pro- 
ceeded, glancing  at  the  District  Attorney,  "ihsityou  have 
no  doubts  as  to  Miss  Dare's  innocence  ?  " 

But  Mr.  Ferris,  instead  of  answering,  turned  to  Hickorv 
and  said  : 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  437 

"  Miss  Dare,  in  summoning  you  to  confirm  her  state- 
ment, relied,  I  suppose,  upon  the  fact  of  your  having 
been  told  by  Professor  Darling's  servant-maid  that  she — 
that  is,  Miss  Dare — was  gone  from  the  observatory  when 
the  girl  came  for  her  on  the  morning  of  the  murder  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  A  strong  corroborative  fact,  if  true  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  But  is  it  true  ?  In  the  explanation  which  Miss  Dare 
gave  me  last  night  of  this  affair,  she  uttered  statements 
essentially  different  from  those  she  made  in  court  to-day. 
She  then  told  me  she  was  in  the  observatory  when  the 
girl  came  for  her  ;  that  she  was  looking  through  a  tele- 
scope which  was  behind  a  high  rack  fill,ed  with  charts  ; 
and  that Why  do  you  start  ?  " 

"  I  did  n't  start,"  protested  Hickory. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  returned  Mr.  Ferris. 

"  Well,  then,  if  I  did  make  such  a  fool  of  myself,  it  was 
because  so  far  her  story  is  plausible  enough.  She  was  in 
that  very  position  when  /  visited  the  observatory,  you 
remember,  and  she  was  so  effectually  concealed  I  did  n't 
see  her  or  know  she  was  there,  till  I  looked  behind  the 
rack." 

"  Very  good  !  "  interjected  Mr.  Ferris.  "  And  that," 
he  resumed,  "  she  did  not  answer  the  girl  or  make  known 
her  presence,  because  at  the  moment  the  girl  came  in  she 
was  deeply  interested  in  watching  something  that  was 
going  on  in  the  town." 


438  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  In  the  town  !  "  repeated  Byrd. 

**  Yes  ;  the  telescope  was  lowered  so  as  to  command  a 
view  of  the  town,  and  she  had  taken  advantage  of  its 
position  (as  she  assured  me  last  night)  to  consult  the 
church  clock." 

"  The  church  clock  !  "  echoed  Byrd  once  more.  "  And 
what  time  did  she  say  it  was  ? "  breathlessly  cried  both 
detectives. 

"  Five  minutes  to  twelve." 

"A  critical  moment,"  ejaculated  Byrd.  "And  what 
was  it  she  saw  going  on  in  the  town  at  that  especial 
time  ?  " 

"I  will  tell  you,"  returned  the  District  Attorney,  im- 
pressively. "  She  said — and  I  believed  her  last  night  and 
so  recalled  her  to  the  stand  this  morning — that  she  saw 
Craik  Mansell  fleeing  toward  the  swamp  from  Mrs. 
Clemmens'  dining-room  door." 

Both  men  looked  up  astonished. 

"That  was  what  she  told  me  last  night.  To-day  she 
comes  into  court  with  this  contradictory  story  of  herself 
being  the  assailant  and  sole  cause  of  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
death." 

"But  all  that  is  frenzy,"  protested  Byrd.  "She  prob- 
ably saw  from  your  manner  that  the  prisoner  was  lost  if 
she  gave  this  fact  to  the  court,  and  her  mind  became  dis- 
ordered. She  evidently  loves  this  Mansell,  and  as  for 
me,  I  pity  her." 

"  So  do  I,"  assented  the  District  Attorney  ;  "still " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  439 

"  Is  it  possible,"  Byrd  interrupted,  with  feeling,  as  ]\Ir. 
Ferris  hesitated,  "  that  you  do  doubt  her  innocence  ? 
After  the  acknowledgments  made  by  the  prisoner  too  ?  " 

Rising  from  his  seat,  Mr.  Ferris  began  slowly  to  pace 
the  floor. 

"  I  should  like  each  of  you,"  said  he,  without  answer- 
ing the  appeal  of  Byrd,  "  to  tell  me  why  I  should  credit 
what  she  told  me  in  conversation  last  night  rather  than 
what  she  uttered  upon  oath  in  the  court-room  to-day?" 

*'  Let  me  speak  first,"  rejoined  Byrd,  glancing  at  Hick- 
ory. And,  rising  also,  he  took  his  stand  against  the 
mantel-shelf  where  he  could  partially  hide  his  face  from 
those  he  addressed.  "  Sir,"  he  proceeded,  after  a  mo- 
ment, "both  Hickory  and  myself  know  Miss  Dare  to  be 
innocent  of  this  murder.  A  circumstance  which  we  have 
hitherto  kept  secret,  but  which  in  justice  to  Miss  Dare  I 
think  we  are  now  bound  to  make  known,  has  revealed  to 
us  the  true  criminal.  Hickory,  tell  Mr.  Ferris  of  the  de- 
ception you  practised  upon  Miss  Dare  in  the  hut." 

The  surprised,  but  secretly  gratified,  detective  at  once 
complied.  He  saw  no  reason  for  keeping  quiet  about 
that  day's  work.  He  told  how,  by  means  of  a  letter  pur- 
porting to  come  from  Mansell,  he  had  decoyed  Imogene 
to  an  interview  in  the  hut,  where,  under  the  supposition 
she  was  addressing  her  lover,  she  had  betrayed  her  con- 
viction of  his  guilt,  and  advised  him  to  confess  it. 

Mr.  Ferris  listened  with  surprise  and  great  interest. 

"  That  seems  to  settle  the  question,"  he  said. 


440  HAND   AND   RING. 

But  it  was  now  Hickory's  turn  to  shake  his  head. 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  remonstrated.  "I  have  sometimes 
thought  she  saw  through  the  trick  and  turned  it  to  her 
own  advantage." 

"  How  to  her  own  advantage  ?  " 

"  To  talk  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  us  think  Mansell 
was  guilty." 

"  Stuff  !  "  said  Byrd  ;  "  that  woman  ? " 

"  More  unaccountable  things  have  happened,"  was  the 
weak  reply  of  Hickory,  his  habitual  state  of  suspicion 
leading  him  more  than  once  into  similar  freaks  of  folly. 

"  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Byrd,  confidingly,  to  the  District  Attor- 
ney, "  let  us  run  over  this  matter  from  the  beginning. 
Starting  with  the  supposition  that  the  explanation  she 
gave  you  last  night  was  the  true  one,  let  us  see  if  the 
whole  affair  does  not  hang  together  in  a  way  to  satisfy  us 
all  as  to  where  the  real  guilt  lies.  To  begin,  then,  with 
the  meeting  in  the  woods " 

"Wait,"  interrupted  Hickory;  "there  is  going  to  be  an 
argument  here  ;  so  suppose  you  give  your  summary  of 
events  from  the  lady's  standpoint,  as  that  seems  to  be  the 
one  which  interests  you  most." 

"  I  was  about  to  do  so,"  Horace  assured  him,  heedless 
of  the  rough  fellow's  good-natured  taunt.  "To  make  my 
point,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  us  to  transfer  ourselves 
into  her  position  and  view  matters  as  they  gradually  un- 
folded themselves  before  her  eyes.  First,  then,  as  I  have 
before  suggested,  let   us  consider  the  interview  held  by 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  44I 

this  man  and  woman  in  the  woods.  Miss  Dare,  as  we 
must  remember,  was  not  engaged  to  Mr.  Mansell  ;  she 
only  loved  him.  Their  engagement,  to  say  nothing  of 
their  marriage,  depended  upon  his  success  in  life — a  suc- 
cess which  to  them  seemed  to  hang  solely  upon  the  deci- 
sion of  Mrs.  Clemmens  concerning  the  small  capital  he 
desired  her  to  advance  him.  But  in  the  interview  which 
Mansell  had  held  with  his  aunt  previous  to  the  meeting 
between  the  lovers,  Mrs.  Clemmens  had  refused  to  loan 
him  this  money,  and  Miss  Dare,  whose  feelings  we  are 
endeavoring  to  follow,  found  herself  beset  by  the  entrea- 
ties of  a  man  who,  having  failed  in  his  plans  for  future 
fortune,  feared  the  loss  of  her  love  as  well.  What  was  the 
natural  consequence  ?  Rebellion  against  the  widow's  de- 
cision, of  course, — a  rebellion  which  she  showed  by  the 
violent  gesture  which  she  made  ; — and  then  a  determina- 
tion to  struggle  for  her  happiness,  as  she  evinced  when, 
with  most  unhappy  ambiguity  of  expression,  she  begged 
him  to  wait  till  the  next  day  before  pressing  his  ring  upon 
her  acceptance,  because,  as  she  said  : 

"  *  A  night  has  been  known  to  change  the  whole  current 
of  a  person's  affairs.'  " 

"  To  her,  engrossed  with  the  one  idea  of  making  a  per- 
sonal effort  to  alter  Mrs.  Clemmens'  mind  on  the  money 
question,  these  words  seemed  innocent  enough.  But  the 
look  with  which  he  received  them,  and  the  pause  that 
followed,  undoubtedly  impressed  her,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  the  interest  she  manifested  when,  upon  looking 


442  HAND   AND    RING. 

through  the  telescope  the  next  day,  she  saw  him  flying  in 
that  extraordinary  way  from  his  aunt's  cottage  toward  the 
woods.  Not  that  she  then  thought  of  his  having  com- 
mitted a  crime.  As  I  trace  her  mental  experience,  she 
did  not  come  to  that  conclusion  till  it  was  forced  upon 
her.  I  do  not  know,  and  so  cannot  say,  how  she  first 
heard  of  the  murder " 

"  She  was  told  of  it  on  the  street-corner,"  interpolated 
Mr.  Ferris. 

"  Ah,  well,  then,  fresh  from  this  vision  of  her  lover 
hasting  from  his  aunt's  door  to  hide  himself  in  the  woods 
beyond,  she  came  into  town  and  was  greeted  by  the  an- 
nouncement that  Mrs.  Clemmens  had  just  been  assaulted 
by  a  tramp  in  her  own  house.  I  know  this  was  the  way 
in  which  the  news  was  told  her,  from  the  expression  of 
her  face  as  she  entered  the  house.  I  was  standing  at  the 
gate,  you  remember,  when  she  came  up,  and  her  look  had 
in  it  determination  and  horror,  but  no  special  fear.  In 
fact,  the  words  she  dropped  show  the  character  of  her 
thoughts  at  that  time.  She  distinctly  murmured  in  my 
hearing  :  '  No  good  can  come  of  it,  none.'  As  if  her  mind 
were  dwelling  upon  the  advantages  which  might  accrue  to 
her  lover  from  his  aunt's  death,  and  weighing  them 
against  the  foul  means  by  which  that  person's  end  had 
been  hastened.  Yet  I  will  not  say  but  she  may  have  been 
influenced  in  the  course  which  she  took  by  some  doubt  or 
apprehension  of  her  own.  The  fact  that  she  came  to  the 
house  at  all,  and,  having  come,  insisted  upon  knowing  all 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  443 

the  details  of  the  assault,  seem  to  prove  she  was  not  with- 
out a  desire  to  satisfy  herself  tliat  suspicion  rightfully 
attached  itself  to  the  tramp.  But  not  until  she  saw  her 
lover's  ring  on  the  floor  (the  ring  which  she  had  with  her 
own  hand  dropped  into  the  pocket  of  his  coat  the  day 
before)  and  heard  that  the  tramp  had  justified  himself 
and  was  no  longer  considered  the  assailant,  did  her  true 
fear  and  horror  come.  Then,  indeed,  all  the  past  rose  up 
before  her,  and,  believing  her  lover  guilty  of  this  crime, 
she  laid  claim  to  the  jewel  as  the  first  and  only  alterna- 
tive that  offered  by  which  she  might  stand  between  him 
and  the  consequences  of  his  guilt.  Her  subsequent  agita- 
tion when  the  dying  woman  made  use  of  the  exclamation 
that  indissolubly  connected  the  crime  with  a  ring,  speaks 
for  itself.  Nor  was  her  departure  from  the  house  any  too 
hurried  or  involuntary,  when  you  consider  that  the  ven- 
geance invoked  by  the  widow,  was,  in  Miss  Dare's  opin- 
ion, called  down  upon  one  to  whom  she  had  nearly 
plighted  her  troth.  What  is  the  next  act  in  the  drama  ? 
The  scene  in  the  Syracuse  depot.  Let  me  see  if  I  cannot 
explain  it.  A  woman  who  has  once  allowed  herself  to 
suspect  the  man  she  loves  of  a  murderous  deed,  cannot 
rest  till  she  has  either  convinced  herself  that  her  suspi- 
cions are  false,  or  until  she  has  gained  such  knowledge  of 
the  truth  as  makes  her  feel  justified  in  her  seeming  trea- 
son. A  woman  of  Miss  Dare's  generous  nature  especially. 
What  does  she  do,  then  ?  With  the  courage  that  charac- 
terizes all  her  movements,  she  determines  upon  seeir  •; 


444  HAND   AND    RING. 

him,  and  from  his  own  lips,  perhaps,  win  a  confession  of 
guilt  or  innocence.  Conceiving  that  his  flight  was  directed 
toward  the  Quarry  Station,  and  thence  to  Buffalo,  she 
embraced  the  first  opportunity  to  follow  him  to  the  latter 
place.  As  I  have  told  you,  her  ticket  was  bought  for 
Buffalo,  and  to  Buffalo  she  evidently  intended  going. 
But  chancing  to  leave  the  cars  at  Syracuse,  she  was 
startled  by  encountering  in  the  depot  the  very  man 
with  whom  she  had  been  associating  thoughts  of  guilt. 
Shocked  and  thrown  off  her  guard  by  the  unexpected- 
ness of  the  occurrence,  she  betrays  her  shrinking  and  her 
horror.  '  Were  you  coming  to  see  me  ? '  she  asks,  and 
recoils,  while  he,  conscious  at  the  first  glimpse  of  her  face 
that  his  guilt  has  cost  him  her  love,  starts  back  also, 
uttering,  in  his  shame  and  despair,  words  that  were  simi- 
lar to  hers,  '  Were  you  coming  to  see  me  ? '  " 

"  Convinced  without  further  speech,  that  her  worst 
fears  had  foundation  in  fact,  she  turns  back  toward  her 
home.  The  man  she  loved  had  committed  a  crime.  That 
it  was  partly  for  her  sake  only  increased  her  horror 
sevenfold.  She  felt  as  if  she  were  guilty  also,  and,  with 
sudden  remorse,  remembered  how,  instead  of  curbing  his 
wrath  the  day  before  she  had  inflamed  it  by  her  words, 
if  not  given  direction  to  it  by  her  violent  gestures.  That 
fact,  and  the  self-blame  it  produced,  probably  is  the  cause 
why  her  love  did  not  vanish  with  her  hopes.  Though  he 
was  stained  by  guilt,  she  felt  that  it  was  the  guilt  of  a 
strong  nature  driven  from  its  bearings  by  the  conjunction 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  445 

of  two  violent  passions, — ambition  and  love  ;  and  she 
being  passionate  and  ambitious  herself,  remained  attached 
to  the  man  while  she  recoiled  from  his  crime. 

"  This  being  so,  she  could  not,  as  d  woman,  wish  him 
to  suffer  the  penalty  of  his  wickedness.  Though  lost  to 
her,  he  must  not  be  lost  to  the  world.  So,  with  the 
heroism  natural  to  such  a  nature,  she  shut  the  secret  up 
in  her  own  breast,  and  faced  her  friends  with  courage, 
wishing,  if  not  hoping,  that  the  matter  would  remain  the 
mystery  it  promised  to  be  when  she  stood  with  us  in  the 
presence  of  the  dying  woman. 

"  But  this  was  not  to  be,  for  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of 
her  complacency,  fell  the  startling  announcement  that 
another  man — an  innocent  man  — one,  too,  of  her  lover's 
own  standing,  if  not  hopes,  had  by  a  curious  conjunction 
of  events  so  laid  himself  open  to  the  suspicion  of  the 
authorities  as  to  be  actually  under  arrest  for  this  crime. 
'T  was  a  danger  she  had  not  foreseen,  a  result  for  which 
she  was  not  prepared. 

"  Startled  and  confounded  she  let  a  few  days  go  by  in 
struggle  and  indecision,  possibly  hoping,  with  the  blind 
trust  of  her  sex,  that  Mr.  Hildreth  would  be  released 
without  her  interference.  But  Mr.  Hildreth  was  not  re- 
leased, and  her  anxiety  was  fast  becoming  unendurable, 
when  that  decoy  letter  sent  by  Hickory  reached  her, 
awakening  in  her  breast  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  the 
hope  that  Mansell  would  show  himself  to  be  a  true  man 
in  this  extremity,  and  by  a  public  confession  of  guilt  re- 


446  HAND   AND   RING. 

lease  her  from  the  task  of  herself  supplying  the  informa- 
tion which  would  lead  to  his  commitment, 

"  And,  perhaps,  if  it  had  really  fallen  to  the  lot  of 
Mansell  to  confront  her  in  the  hut  and  listen  to  her 
words  of  adjuration  and  appeal,  he  might  have  been  in- 
duced to  consent  to  her  wishes.  But  a  detective  sat 
there  instead  of  her  lover,  and  the  poor  woman  lived  to 
see  the  days  go  by  without  any  movement  being  made  to 
save  Mr.  Hildreth.  At  last — was  it  the  result  of  the 
attempt  made  by  this  man  upon  his  life? — she  put  an  end 
to  the  struggle  by  acting  for  herself.  Moved  by  a  sense 
of  duty,  despite  her  love,  she  sent  the  letter  which  drew 
attention  to  her  lover,  and  paved  the  way  for  that  trial 
which  has  occupied  our  attention  for  so  many  days.  But 
— mark  this,  for  I  think  it  is  the  only  explanation  of  her 
whole  conduct — the  sense  of  justice  that  upheld  her  in  this 
duty  was  mingled  with  the  hope  that  her  lover  would 
escape  conviction  if  he  did  not  trial.  The  one  fact 
which  told  the  most  against  him — I  allude  to  his  flight 
from  his  aunt's  door  on  the  morning  of  the  murder,  as 
observed  by  her  through  the  telescope — was  as  yet  a 
secret  in  her  own  breast,  and  there  she  meant  it  to 
remain  unless  it  was  drawn  forth  by  actual  question.  But 
it  was  not  a  fact  likely  to  be  made  the  subject  of  ques- 
tion, and  drawing  hope  from  that  consideration,  she  pre- 
pared herself  for  the  ordeal  before  her,  determined,  as  I 
actually  believe,  to  answer  with  truth  all  the  inquiries 
that  were  put  to  her. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  447 

"  But  in  an  unexpected  hour  she  learned  that  the  detec- 
tives were  anxious  to  know  where  she  was  during  the 
time  of  the  murder.  She  heard  Hickory  question  Pro- 
fessor Darhng's  servant-girl,  as  to  whether  she  was  still 
in  the  observatory,  and  at  once  feared  that  her  secret  was 
discovered.  Feared,  I  say — I  conjecture  this, — but  what 
I  do  not  conjecture  is  that  with  the  fear,  or  doubt,  or 
whatever  emotion  it  was  she  cherished,  a  revelation  came 
of  the  story  she  might  tell  if  worst  came  to  worst,  and 
she  found  herself  forced  to  declare  what  she  saw  when 
the  clock  stood  at  five  minutes  to  twelve  on  that  fatal 
day.  Think  of  your  conversation  with  the  girl  Roxana," 
he  went  on  to  Hickory,  "  and  then  think  of  that  woman 
crouching  behind  the  rack,  listening  to  your  words,  and 
see  if  you  can  draw  any  other  conclusion  from  the  ex- 
pression of  her  face  than  that  of  triumph  at  seeing  a  way 
to  deliver  her  lover  at  the  sacrifice  of  herself." 

As  Byrd  waited  for  a  reply,  Hickory  reluctantly  ac- 
knowledged : 

"  Her  look  was  a  puzzler,  that  I  will  allow.  She  seemed 
glad " 

"  There,"  cried  Byrd,  "  you  say  she  seemed  glad  ;  that 
is  enough.  Had  she  had  the  weight  of  this  crime  upon 
her  conscience,  she  would  have  betrayed  a  different  emo- 
tion from  that.  I  pray  you  to  consider  the  situation," 
he  proceeded,  turning  to  the  District  Attorney,  "  for  on 
it  hangs  your  conviction  of  her  innocence.  First,  imagine 
her  guilty.     What  would  her  feelings  be,  as,  hiding  unseen 


448  HAND   AND    RING. 

in  that  secret  corner,  she  hears  a  detective's  voice  inquir- 
ing where  she  was  when  the  fatal  blow  was  struck,  and 
hears  the  answer  given  that  she  was  not  where  she  was 
supposed  to  be,  but  in  the  woods — the  woods  which  she 
and  every  one  know  lead  so  directly  to  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
house,  she  could  without  the  least  difificulty  hasten  there 
and  back  in  the  hour  she  was  observed  to  be  missing  ? 
Would  she  show  gladness  or  triumph  even  of  a  wild  or 
delirious  order  ?  No,  even  Hickory  cannot  say  she 
would.  Now,  on  the  contrary,  see  her  as  I  do,  crouched 
there  in  the  very  place  before  the  telescope  which  she 
occupied  when  the  girl  came  to  the  observatory  before, 
but  unseen  now  as  she  was  unseen  then,  and  watch  the 
change  that  takes  place  in  her  countenance  as  she  hears 
question  and  answer  and  realizes  what  confirmation  she 
would  receive  from  this  girl  if  she  ever  thought  fit  to  de- 
clare that  she  was  not  in  the  observatory  when  the  girl 
sought  her  there  on  the  day  of  the  murder.  That  by  this 
act  she  would  bring  execration  if  not  death  upon  herself, 
she  does  not  stop  to  consider.  Her  mind  is  full  of  what 
she  can  do  for  her  lover,  and  she  does  not  think  of  herself. 
"  But  an  enthusiasm  like  this  is  too  frenzied  to  last. 
As  time  passes  by  and  Craik  Mansell  is  brought  to  trial, 
she  begins  to  hope  she  may  be  spared  this  sacrifice.  She 
therefore  responds  with  perfect  truth  when  summoned  to 
the  stand  to  give  evidence,  and  does  not  waver,  though 
question  after  question  is  asked  her,  whose  answers  can- 
not fail   to  show  the  state  of  her  mind  in  regard  to  the 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  449 

prisoner's  guilt.  Life  and  honor  are  sweet  even  to  one 
in  her  condition  ;  and  if  her  lover  could  be  saved  without 
falsehood  it  was  her  natural  instinct  to  avoid  it. 

"  And  it  looked  as  if  he  would  be  saved.  A  defence 
both  skilful  and  ingenious  had  been  advanced  for  him  by 
his  counsel — a  defence  which  only  the  one  fact  so  securely 
locked  in  her  bosom  could  controvert.  You  can  imagine, 
then,  the  horror  and  alarm  which  must  have  seized  her 
when,  in  the  very  hour  of  hope,  you  approached  her  with 
the  demand  which  proved  that  her  confidence  in  her 
power  to  keep  silence  had  been  premature,  and  that  the 
alternative  was  yet  to  be  submitted  to  her  of  destroying 
her  lover  or  sacrificing  herself.  Yet,  because  a  great 
nature  does  not  succumb  without  a  struggle,  she  tried  even 
now  the  effect  of  the  truth  upon  you,  and  told  you  the  one 
fact  she  considered  so  detrimental  to  the  safety  of  her 
lover. 

"The  result  was  fatal.  Though  I  cannot  presume  to 
say  what  passed  between  you,  I  can  imagine  how  the 
change  in  your  countenance  warned  her  of  the  doom  she 
would  bring  upon  Mansell  if  she  went  into  court  with  the 
same  story  she  told  you.  Nor  do  I  find  it  difficult  to 
imagine  how,  in  one  of  her  history  and  temperament,  a 
night  of  continuous  brooding  over  this  one  topic  should 
have  culminated  in  the  act  which  startled  us  so  profoundly 
in  the  court-room  this  morning.  Love,  misery,  devotion 
are  not  mere  names  to  her,  and  the  greatness  which  sus- 
tained her  through  the  ordeal  of  denouncing  her  lover  in 


450  HAND   AND   RING. 

order  that  an  innocent  man  might  be  relieved  from  sus- 
picion, was  the  same  that  made  it  possible  for  her  to 
denounce  herself  that  she  might  redeem  the  life  she  had 
thus  deliberately  jeopardized. 

"  That  she  did  this  with  a  certain  calmness  and  dignity 
proves  it  to  have  been  the  result  of  design.  A  murderess 
forced  by  conscience  into  confession  would  not  have  gone 
into  the  details  of  her  crime,  but  blurted  out  her  guilt, 
and  left  the  details  to  be  drawn  from  her  by  question. 
Only  the  woman  anxious  to  tell  her  story  with  the  plausi- 
bility necessary  to  insure  its  belief  would  have  planned 
and  carried  on  her  confession  as  she  did. 

"  The  action  of  the  prisoner,  in  face  of  this  proof  of 
devotion,  though  it  might  have  been  foreseen  by  a  man, 
was  evidently  not  foreseen  by  her.  To  me,  who  watched 
her  closely  at  the  time,  her  face  wore  a  strange  look  of 
mingled  satisfaction  and  despair, — satisfaction  in  having 
awakened  his  manhood,  despair  at  having  failed  in  saving 
him.  But  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  dilate  on  this 
point.  If  I  have  been  successful  in  presenting  before  you 
the  true  condition  of  her  mind  during  this  struggle,  you 
will  see  for  yourself  what  her  feelings  must  be  now  that 
her  lover  has  himself  confessed  to  a  fact,  to  hide  which 
she  made  the  greatest  sacrifice  of  which  mortal  is  capable." 

Mr.  Ferris,  who,  during  this  lengthy  and  exhaustive 
harangue,  had  sat  with  brooding  countenance  and  an 
anxious  mien,  roused  himself  as  the  other  ceased,  and 
glanced  with  a  smile  at  Hickory. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  45  I 

"Well,"  said  he,  "  that  's  good  reasoning  ;  now  let  us 
hear  how  you  will  go  to  work  to  demolish  it." 

The  cleared  brow,  the  playful  tone  of  the  District 
Attorney  showed  the  relieved  state  of  his  mind.  Byrd's 
arguments  had  evidently  convinced  him  of  the  innocence 
of  Imogene  Dare. 

Hickory,  seeing  it,  shook  his  head  with  a  gloomy  air, 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  I  can't  demolish  it.  If  I  could  tell 
why  Mansell  fled  from  Widow  Clemmens'  house  at  five 
minutes  to  twelve  I  might  be  able  to  do  so,  but  that  fact 
stumps  me.  It  is  an  act  consistent  with  guilt.  It  may 
be  consistent  with  innocence,  but,  as  we  .don't  know  all 
the  facts,  we  can't  say  so.  But  this  I. do  know,  that  my 
convictions  with  regard  to  that  man  have  undergone  a 
change.  I  now  as  firmly  believe  in  his  innocence  as 
I  once  did  in  his  guilt." 

"  What  has  produced  the  change  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Ferris. 

"  Well,"  said  Hickory,  "  it  all  lies  in  this.  From  the 
day  I  heard  Miss  Dare  accuse  him  so  confidently  in  the 
hut,  I  believed  him  guilty  ;  from  the  moment  he  with- 
drew his  defence,  I  believed  him  innocent." 

Mr.  Ferris  and  Mr.  Byrd  looked  at  him  astonished. 
He  at  once  brought  down  his  fist  in  vigorous  assertion  on 
the  table. 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  he,  "  that  Craik  Mansell  is  innocent. 
The  truth  is,  he  believes  Miss  Dare  guilty,  and  so  stands 
his  trial,  hoping  to  save  her." 

"  And  be  hung  for  her  crime  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Ferris. 


452  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  No  ;  he  thinks  his  innocence  will  save  him,  in  spite 
of  the  evidence  on  which  we  got  him  indicted." 

But  the  District  Attorney  protested  at  this. 

"  That  can't  be,"  said  he  ;  "  Mansell  has  withdrawn  the 
only  defence  he  had." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  asserted  Hickory,  "  that  very  thing 
only  proves  my  theory  true.  He  is  still  determined  to 
save  Miss  Dare  by  every  thing  short  of  a  confession 
of  his  own  guilt.     He  won't  lie.     That  man  is  innocent." 

"  And  Miss  Dare  is  guilty  ?  "  said  Byrd. 

"  Shall  I  make  it  clear  to  you  in  the  way  it  has  become 
clear  to  Mr.  Mansell  ?  " 

As  Byrd  only  answered  by  a  toss  of  his  head, 
Hickory  put  his  elbows  on  the  table,  and  checking  off 
every  sentence  with  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand, 
which  he  pointed  at  Mr.  Ferris'  shirt-stud,  as  if  to  instil 
from  its  point  conviction  into  that  gentleman's  bosom,  he 
proceeded  with  the  utmost  composure  as  follows : 

*'  To  commence,  then,  with  the  scene  in  the  woods. 
He  meets  her.  She  is  as  angry  at  his  aunt  as  he  is. 
What  does  she  do  ?  She  strikes  the  tree  with  her  hand, 
and  tells  him  to  wait  till  to-morrow,  since  a  night  has 
been  known  to  change  the  whole  current  of  a  person's 
affairs.  Now  tell  me  what  does  that  mean  ?  ^furder  ? 
If  so,  she  was  the  one  to  originate  it.  He  can't  forget 
that.  It  has  stamped  itself  upon  Mansell's  memory,  and 
when,  after  the  assassination  of  Mrs.  Clemmens,  he  recalls 
those  words,  he  is  convinced  that  she  has  slain  Mrs. 
Clemmens  to  help  him." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  453 

"  But,  Mr.  Hickory,"  objected  Mr.  Ferris,  "  this  as- 
sumes that  Mr.  Mansell  is  innocent,  whereas  we  have 
exceedingly  cogent  proof  that  he  is  the  guilty  party. 
There  is  the  circumstance  of  his  leaving  Widow  Clem- 
mens'  house  at  five  minutes  to  twelve." 

To  which  Hickory,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  replied  : 

"  I  won't  discuss  that ;  it  has  n't  been  proved,  you 
know.  Miss  Dare  told  you  she  saw  him  do  this,  but  she 
would  n't  swear  to  it.  Nothing  is  to  be  taken  for  granted 
against  my  man." 

"  Then  you  think  Miss  Dare  spoke  falsely  ?  " 

"  I  don't  say  that.  I  believe  that  whatever  he  did 
could  be  explained  if  we  knew  as  much  about  it  as 
he  does.  But  I  'm  not  called  upon  to  explain  any 
thing  which  has  not  appeared  in  the  evidence  against 
him." 

"  Well,  then,  we  '11  take  the  evidence.  There  is  his 
ring,  found  on  the  scene  of  murder." 

"  Exactly,"  rejoined  Hickory.  "  Dropped  there,  as  he 
must  suppose,  by  Miss  Dare,  because  he  did  n't  know  she 
had  secretly  restored  it  to  his  pocket." 

Mr.  Ferris  smiled. 

"  You  don't  see  the  force  of  the  evidence,"  said  he. 
"  As  she  /lad  restored  it  to  his  pocket,  he  must  have  been 
the  one  to  drop  it  there." 

"  I  am  willing  to  admit  he  dropped  it  there,  not  that 
he  killed  Mrs.  Clemmens.  I  am  now  speaking  of  his 
suspicions  as  to  the  assassin.     When  the  betrothal  ring 


454  HAND   AND   RING. 

was  found  there,  he  suspects  Miss  Dare  of  the  crime,  and 
nothing  has  occurred  to  change  his  suspicions." 

"But,"  said  the  District  Attorney,  "how  does  your 
client,  Mr.  Mansell,  get  over  this  difficulty  ;  that  Miss 
Dare,  who  has  committed  a  murder  to  put  five  thousand 
dollars  into  his  pocket,  immediately  afterward  turns 
round  and  accuses  him  of  the  crime — nay  more,  furnishes 
evidence  against  him  !  " 

"You  can't  expect  the  same  consistency  from  a  woman 
as  from  a  man.  They  can  nerve  themselves  up  one 
moment  to  any  deed  of  desperation,  and  take  every  pains 
the  next  to  conceal  it  by  a  lie." 

"  Men  will  do  the  same  ;  then  why  not  Mansell  ?  " 

"  I  am  showing  you  why  I  know  that  Mansell  believes 
Miss  Dare  guilty  of  a  murder.  To  continue,  then.  What 
does  he  do  when  he  hears  that  his  aunt  has  been  mur- 
dered ?  He  scratches  out  the  face  of  Miss  Dare  in  a 
photograph  ;  he  ties  up  her  letters  with  a  black  ribbon  as 
if  she  were  dead  and  gone  to  him.  Then  the  scene  in 
the  Syracuse  depot !  The  rule  of  three  works  both  ways, 
Mr.  Byrd,  and  if  she  left  her  home  to  solve  her  doubts, 
what  shall  be  said  of  him  ?  The  recoil,  too — was  it  less 
on  his  part  than  hers  ?  And,  if  she  had  cause  to  gather 
guilt  from  his  manner,  had  he  not  as  much  cause  to 
gather  it  from  hers  ?  If  his  mind  was  full  of  suspicion 
when  he  met  her,  it  became  conviction  before  he  left  ; 
and,  bearing  that  fact  in  your  mind,  watch  how  he  hence- 
forth conducted  himself.     He  does  not  come  to  Sibley  ; 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  455 

the  woman  he  fears  to  encounter  is  there.  He  hears  of 
Mr.  Hildreth's  arrest,  reads  of  the  discoveries  which  led 
to  it,  and  keeps  silent.  So  would  any  other  man  have 
done  in  his  place,  at  least  till  he  saw  whether  this  arrest 
was  likely  to  end  in  trial.  But  he  cannot  forget  he  had 
been  in  Sibley  on  the  fatal  day,  or  that  there  may  be 
some  one  who  saw  his  interview  with  Miss  Dare.  When 
Byrd  comes  to  him,  therefore,  and  tells  him  he  is  wanted 
in  Sibley,  his  first  question  is,  *  Am  I  wanted  as  a  wit- 
ness ? '  and,  even  you  have  acknowledged,  Mr.  Ferris, 
that  he  seemed  surprised  to  find  himself  accused  of  the 
crime.  But,  accused,  he  takes  his  course  and  keeps  to  it. 
Brought  to  trial,  he  remembers  the  curious  way  in  which 
he  crossed  the  river,  and  thus  cut  short  the  road  to  the 
station  ;  and,  seeing  in  it  great  opportunities  for  a  suc- 
cessful defence,  chooses  Mr.  Orcutt  for  his  counsel,  and 
trusts  the  secret  to  him.  The  trial  goes  on  ;  acquittal 
seems  certain,  when  suddenly  she  is  recalled  to  the 
stand,  and  he  hears  words  which  make  him  think  she  is 
going  to  betray  him  by  some  falsehood,  when,  instead  of 
following  the  lead  of  the  prosecution,  she  launches  into  a 
personal  confession.  What  does  he  do  ?  Why,  rise  and 
hold  up  his  hand  in  a  command  for  her  to  stop.  But  she 
does  not  heed,  and  the  rest  follows  as  a  matter  of  course. 
The  life  she  throws  away  he  will  not  accept.  He  is 
innocent,  but  his  defence  is  false  !  He  says  so,  and 
leaves  the  jury  to  decide  on  the  verdict.  There  can  be 
no  doubt,"  Hickory   finally  concluded,   "that  some  of 


456  HAND   AND   RING. 

these  circumstances  are  consistent  only  with  his  belief 
that  Miss  Dare  is  a  murderess  :  such,  for  instance,  as  his 
scratching  out  her  face  in  the  picture.  Others  favor  the 
theory  in  a  less  degree,  but  this  is  what  I  want  to  impress 
upon  both  your  minds,"  he  declared,  turning  first  to  Mr. 
Ferris  and  then  to  Mr.  Byrd  :  "  If  any  fact,  no  matter  how 
slight,  leads  us  to  the  conviction  that  Craik  Mansell,  at  any 
time  after  the  murder,  entertained  the  belief  that  Miss  Dare 
committed  it,  his  innocence  follows  as  a  matter  of  course. 
For  the  guilty  could  never  entertain  a  belief  in  the  guilt  of 
any  other  person.'' 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Ferris  "  I  admit  that,  but  we  have  got 
to  see  into  Mr.  Mansell's  mind  before  we  can  tell  what 
his  belief  really  was." 

"No,"  was  Hickory's  reply  ;  "let  us  look  at  his  actions. 
I  say  that  that  defaced  picture  is  conclusive.  One  day 
he  loves  that  woman  and  wants  her  to  marry  him  ;  the 
next,  he  defaces  her  picture.  Why  ?  She  had  not  offended 
him.  Not  a  word,  not  a  line,  passes  between  them  to 
cause  him  to  commit  this  act.  But  he  does  hear  of  his 
aunt's  murder,  and  he  does  recall  her  sinister  promise  : 
'Wait  ;  there  is  no  telling  what  a  day  will  bring  forth.' 
I  say  that  no  other  cause  for  his  act  is  shown  except  his 
conviction  that  she  is  a  murderess." 

"  But,"  persisted  Mr.  Ferris,  "  his  leaving  the  house,  as 
he  acknowledges  he  did,  by  this  unfrequented  and  cir- 
cuitous road .'' " 

"  I  have  said  before  that  I  cannot  explain  his  presence 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  457 

there,  or  his  flight.  All  I  am  now  called  upon  to  show 
is,  some  fact  inconsistent  with  any  thing  except  a  belief  in 
this  young  woman's  guilt,  I  claim  I  have  shown  it,  and, 
as  you  admit,  Mr.  Ferris,  if  I  show  that^  he  is  innocent." 

"  Yes,"  said  Byrd,  speaking  for  the  first  time  ;  "  but  we 
have  heard  of  people  manufacturing  evidence  in  their  own 
behalf." 

"  Come,  Byrd,"  replied  Hickory,  "  you  don't  seriously 
mean  to  attack  my  position  with  that  suggestion.  How 
could  a  man  dream  of  manufacturing  evidence  of  such  a 
character  ?  A  murderer  manufactures  evidence  to  throw 
suspicion  on  other  people.  No  fool  could  suppose  that 
scratching  out  the  face  of  a  girl  in  a  photograph  and  lock- 
ing it  up  in  his  own  desk,  would  tend  to  bring  her  to  the 
scaffold,  or  save  him  from  it." 

"  And,  yet,"  rejoined  Byrd,  "  that  very  act  acquits  him 
in  your  eyes.  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  give  him  credit 
for  being  smart  enough  to  foresee  that  it  would  have  such 
a  tendency  in  the  eyes  of  any  person  who  discovered  the 
picture." 

*'  Then,"  said  Hickory,  "  he  would  also  have  to  foresee 
that  she  would  accuse  herself  of  murder  when  he  was  on 
trial  for  it,  and  that  he  would  thereupon  withdraw  his 
defence.  Byrd,  you  are  foreseeing  too  much.  My  friend 
Mansell  possesses  no  such  power  of  looking  into  the 
future  as  that." 

"Your  friend  Mansell!"  repeated  Mr,  Ferris,  with  a 
smile.  "  If  you  were  on  his  jury,  I  suppose  your  bias  in 
his  favor  would  lead  you  to  acquit  him  of  this  crime  ? " 


458  HAND   AND   RING. 

"I  should  declare  him  '  Not  guilty,'  and  stick  to  it,  if  I 
had  to  be  locked  up  for  a  year." 

Mr.  Ferris  sank  into  an  attitude  of  profound  thought. 
Horace  Byrd,  impressed  by  this,  looked  at  him  anxiously. 

"  Have  your  convictions  been  shaken  by  Hickory's  in- 
genious theory  ?  "  he  ventured  to  inquire  at  last. 

Mr.  Ferris  abstractedly  replied  : 

"  This  is  no  time  for  me  to  state  my  convictions.  It  is 
enough  that  you  comprehend  my  perplexity."  And,  re- 
lapsing into  his  former  condition,  he  remained  for  a 
moment  wrapped  in  silence,  then  he  said  :  "Byrd,  how 
comes  it  that  the  humpback  who  excited  so  much  atten- 
tion on  the  day  of  the  murder  was  never  found  ?  " 

Byrd,  astonished,  surveyed  the  District  Attorney  with  a 
doubtful  look  that  gradually  changed  into  one  of  quiet 
satisfaction  as  he  realized  the  significance  of  this  recur- 
rence to  old  theories  and  suspicions.  His  answer,  how- 
ever, was  slightly  embarrassed  in  tone,  though  frank 
enough  to  remind  one  of  Hickory's  blunt-spoken  admis- 
sions. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  suppose  the  main  reason  is  that  I 
made  no  attempt  to  find  him." 

"  Do  you  think  that  you  were  wise  in  that,  Mr.  Byrd  ?  " 
inquired  Mr.  Ferris,  with  some  severity. 

Horace  laughed. 

"  I  can  find  him  for  you  to-day,  if  you  want  him,"  he 
declared. 

"  You  can  ?     You  know  him,  then  ? " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  459 

"  Very  well.  Mr.  Ferris,"  he  courteously  remarked, 
"  I  perhaps  should  have  explained  to  you  at  the  time, 
that  I  recognized  this  person  and  knew  him  to  be  an 
honest  man  ;  but  the  habits  of  secrecy  in  our  profession 
are  so  fostered  by  the  lives  we  lead,  that  we  sometimes 
hold  our  tongue  when  it  would  be  better  for  us  to  speak. 
The  humpback  who  talked  with  us  on  the  court-house 
steps  the  morning  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  murdered,  was  not 
what  he  seemed,  sir.  He  was  a  detective  ;  a  detective  in 
disguise  ;  a  man  with  whom  I  never  presume  to  meddle — 
in  other  words,  our  famous  Mr.  Gryce." 

"  Gryce  ! — that  man  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Ferris,  as- 
tounded. 

"  Yes,  sir.  He  was  in  disguise,  probably  for  some 
purpose  of  his  own,  but  I  knew  his  eye.  Gryce's  eye 
is  n't  to  be  mistaken  by  any  one  who  has  much  to 
do  with  him." 

"  And  that  famous  detective  was  actually  on  the  spot 
at  the  time  this  murder  was  discovered,  and  you  let  him 
go  without  warning  me  of  his  presence  ?  " 

"  Sir,"  returned  Mr.  Byrd,  "  neither  you  nor  I  nor  any 
one  at  that  time  could  foresee  what  a  serious  and  compli- 
cated case  this  was  going  to  be.  Besides,  he  did  not  linger 
in  this  vicinity,  but  took  the  cars  only  a  few  minutes  after 
he  parted  from  us.  I  did  not  think  he  wanted  to  be 
dragged  into  this  affair  unless  it  was  necessary.  He  had 
important  matters  of  his  own  to  look  after.  However,  if 
suspicion  had  continued  to  follow  him,  I  should  have 


a6o  hand  and  ring. 

notified  him  of  the  fact,  and  let  him  speak  for  himself. 
But  it  vanished  so  quickly  in  the  light  of  other  develop- 
ments, I  just  let  the  matter  drop." 

The  impatient  frown  with  which  Mr,  Ferris  received 
this  acknowledgment  showed  he  was  not  pleased. 

"  I  think  you  made  a  mistake,"  said  he.  Then,  after 
a  minute's  thought,  added  :  "  You  have  seen  Gryce 
since  ? " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  several  times." 

"  And  he  acknowledged  himself  to  have  been  the 
humpback  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  You  must  have  had  some  conversation  with  him, 
then,  about  this  murder  ?  He  was  too  nearly  concerned 
in  it  not  to  take  some  interest  in  the  affair  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  Gryce  takes  an  interest  in  all  murder 
cases." 

"  Well,  then,  what  did  he  have  to  say  about  this  one  ? 
He  gave  an  opinion,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  Gryce  never  gives  an  opinion  without 
study,  and  we  detectives  have  no  time  to  study  up  an 
affair  not  our  own.  If  you  want  to  know  what  Gryce 
thinks  about  a  crime,  you  have  got  to  put  the  case  into 
his  hands." 

Mr.  Ferris  paused  and  seemed  to  ruminate.  Seeing 
this,  Mr.  Byrd  flushed  and  cast  a  side  glance  at  Hickory, 
who  returned  him  an  expressive  shrug. 

'*  Mr.  Ferris,"  ventured  the  former,  "  if  you  wish  to 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  461 

consult  with  Mr.  Gryce  on  this  matter,  do  not  hesitate 
because  of  us.  Both  Hickory  and  myself  acknowledge 
we  are  more  or  less  baffled  by  this  case,  and  Gryce's 
judgment  is  a  good  thing  to  have  in  a  perplexity." 

"  You  think  so  ?  "  queried  the  District  Attorney. 

"  I  do,"  said  Byrd. 

Mr.  Ferris  glanced  at  Hickory. 

"  Oh,  have  the  old  man  here  if  you  want  him,"  was 
that  detective's  blunt  reply.  "  I  have  nothing  to  say 
against  your  getting  all  the  light  you  can  on  this 
affair." 

"Very  good,"  returned  Mr.  Ferris.  "You  may  give 
me  his  address  before  you  go." 

"  His  address  for  to-night  is  Utica,"  observed  Byrd. 
"  He  could  be  here  before  morning,  if  you  wanted 
him." 

"  I  am  in  no  such  hurry  as  that,"  returned  Mr.  Ferris, 
and  he  sank  again  into  thought. 

The  detectives  took  advantage  of  his  abstraction  to 
utter  a  few  private  condolences  in  each  other's  ears. 

"  So  it  seems  we  are  to  be  laid  on  the  shelf,"  whis- 
pered Hickory. 

"  Yes,  for  which  let  us  be  thankful,"  answered  Byrd. 

"  Why  ?     Are  you  getting  tired  of  the  affair  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

A  humorous  twinkle  shone  for  a  minute  in  Hickory's 
eye. 

"  Pooh  !  "  said  he,  "  it  's  just  getting  interesting." 


4^2  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Opinions  differ,"  quoth  Byrd. 

"  Not  much,"  retorted  Hickory, 

Something  in  the  way  he  said  this  made  Byrd  look 
at  him  more  intently.     He  instantly  changed  his  tone. 

"Old  fellow,"  said  he,  "you  don't  believe  Miss  Dare 
committed  this  crime  any  more  than  I  do." 

A  sly  twinkle  answered  him  from  the  detective's  half- 
shut  eye. 

"  All  that  talk  of  having  seen  through  your  disguise  in 
the  hut  is  just  nonsense  on  your  part  to  cover  up  your 
real  notion  about  it.  What  is  that  notion,  Hickory  ? 
Come,  out  with  it ;  let  us  understand  each  other  thor- 
oughly at  last." 

"  Do  I  understand  you  ?  " 

"You  shall,  when  you  tell  me  just  what  your  convic- 
tions are  in  this  matter." 

"  Well,  then,"  replied  Hickory,  with  a  short  glance  at 
Mr.  Ferris,  "  I  believe  (it 's  hard  as  pulling  teeth  to  own 
it)  that  neither  of  them  did  it :  that  she  thought  him 
guilty  and  he  thought  her  so,  but  that  in  reality  the  crime 
lies  at  the  door  of  some  third  party  totally  disconnected 
with  either  of  them." 

"  Such  as  Gouverneur  Hildreth  ?  "  whispered  Byrd. 

"  Sueh — as — Gouverneur  Hildreth,"  drawled  Hickory. 

The  two  detectives  eyed  each  other,  smiled,  and 
turned  with  relieved  countenances  toward  the  District 
Attorney.  He  was  looking  at  them  with  great  earnest- 
ness. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  463 

"  That  is  your  joint  opinion  ?  "  he  remarked. 

"  It  is  mine,"  cried  Hickory,  bringing  his  fist  down  on 
the  table  with  a  vim  that  made  every  individual  article  on 
it  jump, 

"  It  is  and  it  is  not  mine,"  acquiesced  Byrd,  as  the  eye 
of  Mr.  Ferris  turned  in  his  direction.  "  Mr.  Mansell 
may  be  innocent — indeed,  after  hearing  Hickory's  ex- 
planation of  his  conduct,  I  am  ready  to  believe  he  is — 
but  to  say  that  Gouverneur  Hildreth  is  guilty  comes 
hard  to  me  after  the  long  struggle  I  have  maintained  in 
favor  of  his  innocence.  Yet,  what  other  conclusion  re- 
mains after  an  impartial  view  of  the  subject  ?  None. 
Then  why  should  I  shrink  from  acknowledging  I  was  at 
fault,  or  hesitate  to  admit  a  defeat  where  so  many  causes 
combined  to  mislead  me  ?  " 

"  Which  means  you  agree  with  Hickory  ?  "  ventured 
the  District  Attorney. 

Mr.  Byrd  slowly  bowed. 

Mr.  Ferris  continued  for  a  moment  looking  alternately 
from  one  to  the  other  ;  then  he  observed  : 

"  When  two  such  men  unite  in  an  opinion,  it  is  at  least 
worthy  of  consideration."  And,  rising,  he  took  on  an 
aspect  of  sudden  determination,  "  Whatever  may  be  the 
truth  in  regard  to  this  matter,"  said  he,  "  one  duty  is 
clear.  Miss  Dare,  as  you  inform  me,  has  been — with  but 
little  idea  of  the  consequences,  I  am  sure — allowed  to  re- 
main under  the  impression  that  the  interview  which  she 
held  in  the  hut  was  with  her  lover.     As  her  belief  in  the 


464  HAND   AND   RING. 

prisoner's  guilt  doubtless  rests  upon  the  admissions  which 
were  at  that  time  made  in  her  hearing,  it  is  palpable  that 
a  grave  injustice  has  been  done  both  to  her  and  to  him 
by  leaving  this  mistake  of  hers  uncorrected.  I  therefore 
consider  it  due  to  Miss  Dare,  as  well  as  to  the  prisoner, 
to  undeceive  her  on  this  score  before  another  hour  has 
passed  over  our  heads.  I  must  therefore  request  you, 
Mr.  Byrd,  to  bring  the  lady  here.  You  will  find  her  still 
in  the  court-house,  I  think,  as  she  requested  leave  to 
remain  in  the  room  below  till  the  crowd  had  left  the 
streets." 

Mr.  Byrd,  who,  in  the  new  light  which  had  been 
thrown  on  the  affair  by  his  own  and  Hickory's  supposi- 
tions, could  not  but  see  the  justice  of  this,  rose  with 
alacrity  to  obey. 

"I  will  bring  her  if  she  is  in  the  building,"  he  declared, 
hurriedly  leaving  the  room. 

*'  And  if  she  is  not,"  Mr.  Ferris  remarked,  with  a  glance 
at  the  consciously  rebuked  Hickory,  "  we  shall  have  to 
follow  her  to  her  home,  that  is  all.  I  am  determined  to 
see  this  woman's  mind  cleared  of  all  misapprehensions 
before  I  take  another  step  in  the  way  of  my  duty. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  465 


XXXVI. 


A    MISTAKE    RECTIFIED. 


If  circumstances  lead  me,  I  will  find 

Where  truth  is  hid,  though  it  were  hid,  indeed, 

Within  the  centre.  — Hamlet. 

IF  Mr.  Ferris,  in  seeking  this  interview  with  Miss 
Dare,  had  been  influenced  by  any  hope  of  finding 
her  in  an  unsettled  and  hesitating  state  of  mind,  he  was 
effectually  undeceived,  when,  after  a  few  minutes' absence, 
Mr.  Byrd  returned  with  her  to  his  presence.  Though  her 
physical  strength  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  she  looked 
quite  pale  and  worn,  there  was  a  steady  gleam  in  her  eye, 
which  spoke  of  an  unshaken  purpose. 

Seeing  it,  and  noting  the  forced  humility  with  which 
she  awaited  his  bidding  at  the  threshold,  the  District 
Attorney,  for  the  first  time  perhaps,  realized  the  power 
of  this  great,  if  perverted,  nature,  and  advancing  with 
real  kindness  to  the  door,  he  greeted  her  with  as  much 
deference  as  he  ever  showed  to  ladies,  and  gravely 
pushed  toward  her  a  chair. 

She  did  not  take  it.  On  the  contrary,  she  drew  back 
a  step,  and  looked  at  him  in  some  doubt,  but  a  sudden 
glimpse  of  Hickory's  sturdy  figure  in  the  corner  seemed 
to  reassure  her,  and  merely  stopping  to  acknowledge  Mr. 
Ferris'  courtesy  by  a  bow,  she  glided  forward  and  took 
her  stand  by  the  chair  he  had  provided. 


466  HAND   AND   RING. 

A  short  and,  on  his  part,  somewhat  embarrassing 
pause  followed.     It  was  broken  by  her. 

"  You  sent  for  me,"  she  suggested.  "  You  perhaps 
want  some  explanation  of  my  conduct,  or  some  assurance 
that  the  confession  1  made  before  the  court  to-day  was 
true  ?" 

If  Mr.  Ferris  had  needed  any  further  proof  than  he  had 
already  received  that  Imogene  Dare,  in  presenting  herself 
before  the  world  as  a  criminal,  had  been  actuated  by  a 
spirit  of  devotion  to  the  prisoner,  he  would  have  found  it 
in  the  fervor  and  unconscious  dignity  with  which  she 
uttered  these  few  words.  But  he  needed  no  such  proof. 
Giving  her,  therefore,  a  look  full  of  grave  significance,  he 
replied  : 

"  No,  Miss  Dare.  After  my  experience  of  the  ease 
with  which  you  can  contradict  yourself  in  matters  of  the 
most  serious  import,  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  say  that  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  your  words  must  be  arrived  at  by 
some  other  means  than  any  you  yourself  can  offer.  My 
business  with  you  at  this  time  is  of  an  entirely  different 
nature.  Instead  of  listening  to  further  confessions  from 
you,  it  has  become  my  duty  to  offer  one  myself.  Not  on 
my  own  behalf,"  he  made  haste  to  explain,  as  she  looked 
up,  startled,  "  but  on  account  of  these  men,  who,  in  their 
anxiety  to  find  out  who  murdered  Mrs.  Clemmens,  made 
use  of  means  and  resorted  to  deceptions  which,  if  their 
superiors  had  been  consulted,  would  not  have  been  coun- 
tenanced for  a  moment." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  467 

"  I  do  not  understand,"  she  murmured,  looking  at  the 
two  detectives  with  a  wonder  that  suddenly  merged  into 
alarm  as  she  noticed  the  embarrassment  of  the  one  and 
the  decided  discomfiture  of  the  other. 

Mr.  Ferris  at  once  resumed  : 

"  In  the  weeks  that  have  elapsed  since  the  commission 
of  this  crime,  it  has  been  my  lot  to  subject  you  to  much 
mental  misery,  Miss  Dare.  Provided  by  yourself  with  a 
possible  clue  to  the  murder,  I  have  probed  the  matter 
with  an  unsparing  hand.  Heedless  of  the  pain  I  was  in- 
flicting, or  the  desperation  to  Vv'hich  I  was  driving  you,  I 
asked  you  questions  and  pressed  you  for  facts  as  long  as 
there  seemed  questions  to  ask  or  facts  to  be  gained.  My 
duty  and  the  claims  of  my  position  demanded  this,  and 
for  it  I  can  make  no  excuse,  notwithstanding  the  unhappy 
results  that  have  ensued.  But,  Miss  Dare,  whatever 
anxiety  I  may  have  shown  in  procuring  the  conviction  of 
a  man  I  believed  to  be  a  criminal,  I  have  never  wished  to 
win  my  case  at  the  expense  of  justice  and  right  ;  and  had 
I  been  told  before  you  came  to  the  stand  that  you  had 
been  made  the  victim  of  a  deception  calculated  to  influ- 
ence your  judgment,  I  should  have  hastened  to  set  you 
right  with  the  same  anxiety  as  I  do  now." 

"  Sir — sir "  she  began. 

But  Mr.  Ferris  would  not  listen. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  he  proceeded  with  all  the  gravity  of  con- 
viction, "  you  have  uttered  a  deliberate  perjury  in  the 
court-room  to-day.     You  said  that  you  alone  were  re- 


468  HAND   AND    RING. 

sponsible  for  the  murder  of  Mrs.  Clemmens,  whereas  you 
not  only  did  not  commit  the  crime  yourself  but  were  not 
even  an  accessory  to  it.  Wait  !  "  he  commanded,  as  she 
flashed  upon  him  a  look  full  of  denial,  "  I  would  rather 
you  did  not  speak.  The  motive  for  this  calumny  you  ut- 
tered upon  yourself  lies  in  a  fact  which  may  be  modified 
by  what  I  have  to  reveal.  Hear  me,  then,  before  you 
stain  yourself  still  further  by  a  falsehood  you  will  not 
only  be  unable  to  maintain,  but  which  you  may  no  longer 
see  reason  for  insisting  upon.  Hickory,  turn  around  so 
Miss  Dare  can  see  your  face.  Miss  Dare,  when  you  saw 
fit  to  call  upon  this  man  to  upbear  you  in  the  extraordi- 
nary statements  you  made  to-day,  did  you  realize  that  in 
doing  this  you  appealed  to  the  one  person  best  qualified 
to  prove  the  falsehood  of  what  you  had  said  ?  I  see  you 
did  not ;  yet  it  is  so.  He  if  no  other  can  testify  that  a  few 
weeks  ago,  no  idea  of  taking  this  crime  upon  your  own 
shoulders  had  ever  crossed  your  mind  ;  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, your  whole  heart  was  filled  with  sorrow  for  the  sup- 
posed guilt  of  another,  and  plans  for  inducing  that 
other  to  make  a  confession  of  his  guilt  before  the 
world." 

"  This  man  !  "  was  her  startled  exclamation.  "  It  is 
not  possible  ;  I  do  not  know  him  ;  he  does  not  know  me. 
I  never  talked  with  him  but  once  in  my  life,  and  that  was 
to  say  words  I  am  not  only  willing  but  anxious  for  him 
to  repeat." 

"Miss  Dare,"  the   District  Attorney  pursued,  "when 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  469 

you  say  this  you  show  how  completely  you  have 
been  deceived.  The  conversation  to  which  you  allude 
is  not  the  only  one  which  has  passed  between  you  two. 
Though  you  did  not  know  it,  you  held  a  talk  with 
this  man  at  a  time  in  which  you  so  completely  dis- 
covered the  secrets  of  your  heart,  you  can  never  hope 
to  deceive  us  or  the  world  by  any  story  of  personal 
guilt  which  you  may  see  fit  to  manufacture," 

"  I  reveal  my  heart  to  this  man  !  "  she  repeated,  in 
a  maze  of  doubt  and  terror  that  left  her  almost  un- 
able to  stand.  "  You  are  playing  with  my  misery,  Mr. 
Ferris." 

The  District  Attorney  took  a  different  tone. 

"Miss  Dare,"  he  asked,  "do  you  remember  a  cer- 
tain interview  you  held  with  a  gentleman  in  the  hut 
back  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house,  a  short  time  after  the 
murder  ?  " 

"Did  this  man  overhear  my  words  that  day?"  she 
murmured,  reaching  out  her  hand  to  steady  herself  by 
the  back  of  the  chair  near  which  she  was  standing. 

"  Your  words  that  day  were  addressed  to  this  man." 

"  To  him  !  "  she  repeated,  staggering  back. 

"  Yes,  to  him,  disguised  as  Craik  Mansell.  With  an 
unjustifiable  zeal  to  know  the  truth,  he  had  taken  this 
plan  for  surprising  your  secret  thoughts,  and  he  succeed- 
ed. Miss  Dare,  remember  that,  even  if  he  did  you  and 
your  lover  the  cruel  wrong  of  leaving  you  undisturbed  in 
the  impression  that  Mr.  Mansell  had  admitted  his  guilt  in 
your  presence." 


470  HAND   AND   RING.      ' 

But  Imogene,  throwing  out  her  hands,  cried  impetu- 
ously : 

"  It  is  not  so  ;  you  are  mocking  me.  This  man  never 
could  deceive  me  like  that  !  " 

But  even  as  she  spoke  she  recoiled,  for  Hickory,  with 
ready  art,  had  thrown  his  arms  and  head  forward  on  the 
table  before  which  he  sat,  in  the  attitude  and  with  much 
the  same  appearance  he  had  preserved  on  the  day  she 
had  come  upon  him  in  the  hut.  Though  he  had  no  as- 
sistance from  disguise  and  all  the  accessories  were  lack- 
ing which  had  helped  forward  the  illusion  on  the  former 
occasion,  there  was  still  a  sufficient  resemblance  between 
this  bowed  figure  and  the  one  that  had  so  impressed  itself 
upon  her  memory  as  that  of  her  wretched  and  remorse- 
ful lover,  that  she  stood  rooted  to  the  ground  in  her  sur 
prise  and  dismay. 

"  You  see  how  it  was  done,  do  you  not .-' "  inquired 
Mr.  Ferris.  Then,  as  he  saw  she  did  not  heed,  added  : 
"  I  hope  you  remember  what  passed  between  you  two  on 
that  day  ?" 

As  if  struck  by  a  thought  which  altered  the  w^hole  at- 
mosphere of  her  hopes  and  feelings,  she  took  a  step  for- 
ward with  a  power  and  vigor  that  recalled  to  mind  the 
Imogene  of  old. 

"  Sir,"  she  exclaimed,  "  let  that  man  turn  around  and 
face  me  !  " 

Hickory  at  once  rose. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  demanded,  surveying  him  with  a  look 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  47I 

it  took  all  his  well-known  hardihood  to  sustain  unmoved, 
"  was  it  all  false — all  a  trick  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  ?  I  received  a  letter — was  that  written  by  your  hand 
too  ?  Are  you  capable  of  forgery  as  well  as  of  other 
deceptions  ? " 

The  detective,  who  knew  no  other  way  to  escape  from 
his  embarrassment,  uttered  a  short  laugh.  But  finding  a 
reply  was  expected  of  him,  answered  with  well-simulated 
indifference  : 

"  No,  only  the  address  on  the  envelope  was  mine  ;  the 
letter  was  one  which  Mr.  Mansell  had  written  but  never 
sent.  I  found  it  in  his  waste-paper  basket  in  Buf- 
falo." 

"  Ah  !  and  you  could  make  use  of  that  ? " 

"  I  know  it  was  a  mean  trick,"  he  acknowledged,  drop- 
ping his  eyes  from  her  face.  "  But  things  do  look  dif- 
ferent when  you  are  in  the  thick  of  'em  than  when  you 
take  a  stand  and  observe  them  from  the  outside.  I — I 
was  ashamed  of  it  long  ago.  Miss  Dare  " — this  was  a  lie; 
Hickory  never  was  really  ashamed  of  it — "  and  would 
have  told  you  about  it,  but  I  thought  '  mum '  was  the 
word  after  a  scene  like  that." 

She  did  not  seem  to  hear  him. 

"Then  Mr.  ManselLdid  not  send  me  the  letter  inviting 
me  to  meet  him  in  the  hut  on  a  certain  day,  some  few 
weeks  after  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  murdered  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Nor  know  that  such  a  letter  had  been  sent  ? " 

"  No." 


472  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Nor  come,  as  I  supposed  he  did,  to  Sibley  ?  nor  ad- 
mit what  I  supposed  he  admitted  in  my  hearing  ?  nor 
listen,  as  I  supposed  he  did,  to  the  insinuations  I  made 
use  of  in  the  hut  ? " 

"No." 

Imbued  with  sudden  purpose  and  energy,  she  turned 
upon  the  District  Attorney. 

"  Oh,  what  a  revelation  to  come  to  me  now  ! "  she 
murmured. 

Mr.  Ferris  bowed. 

"  You  are  right,"  he  assented  ;  "  it  should  have  come 
to  you  before.  But  I  can  only  repeat  what  I  have  pre- 
viously said,  that  if  I  had  known  of  this  deception  my- 
self, you  would  have  been  notified  of  it  previous  to  going 
upon  the  stand.  For  your  belief  in  the  prisoner's  guilt 
has  necessarily  had  its  effect  upon  the  jury,  and  I  cannot 
but  see  how  much  that  belief  must  have  been  strength- 
ened, if  it  was  not  actually  induced,  by  the  interview 
which  we  have  just  been  considering." 

Her  eyes  took  on  fresh  light ;  she  looked  at  Mr.  Ferris 
as  if  she  would  read  his  soul. 

"  Can  it  be  possible "  she  breathed,  but  stopped  as 

suddenly  as  she  began.  The  District  Attorney  was  not 
the  man  from  whom  she  could  hope  to  obtain  any  opinion 
in  reference  to  the  prisoner's  innocence. 

Mr.  Ferris,  noting  her  hesitation  and  understanding  it 
too,  perhaps,  moved  toward  her  with  a  certain  kindly  dig- 
nity, saying : 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  473 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  utter  words  that  would  give  you 
some  comfort,  Miss  Dare,  but  in  the  present  state  of  af- 
fairs I  do  not  feel  as  if  I  could  go  farther  than  bid  you 
trust  in  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  those  who  have  this 
matter  in  charge.  As  for  your  own  wretched  and  un- 
called-for action  in  court  to-day,  it  was  a  madness  which 
I  hope  will  be  speedily  forgotten,  or,  if  not  forgotten,  laid 
to  a  despair  almost  too  heavy  for  mortal  strength  to 
endure." 

"  Thank  you,"  she  murmured  ;  but  her  look,  the  poise 
of  her  head,  the  color  that  quivered  through  the  pallor  of 
her  cheek,  showed  she  was  not  thinking  of  herself. 
Doubt,  the  first  which  had  visited  her  since  she  became 
convinced  that  Craik  Mansell  was  the  destroyer  of  his 
aunt's  life,  had  cast  a  momentary  gleam  over  her  thoughts, 
and  she  was  conscious  of  but  one  wish,  and  that  was  to 
understand  the  feelings  of  the  men  before  her. 

But  she  soon  saw  the  hopelessness  of  this,  and,  sinking 
back  again  into  her  old  distress  as  she  realized  how 
much  reason  she  still  had  for  believing  Craik  Mansell 
guilty,  she  threw  a  hurried  look  toward  the  door  as  if 
anxious  to  escape  from  the  eyes  and  ears  of  men  inter- 
ested, as  she  knew,  in  gleaning  her  every  thought  and 
sounding  her  every  impulse. 

Mr.  Ferris  at  once  comprehended  her  intention,  and 
courteously  advanced. 

"  Do  you  wish  to  return  home  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  If  a  carriage  can  be  obtained." 


474  HAND  AND  RING. 

"  There  can  be  no  difificulty  about  that,"  he  answered  ; 
and  he  gave  Hickory  a  look,  and  whispered  a  word 
to  Mr.  Byrd,  that  sent  them  both  speedily  from  the 
room. 

When  he  was  left  alone  with  her,  he  said  : 

"  Before  you  leave  my  presence,  Miss  Dare,  I  wish  to 
urge  upon  you  the  necessity  of  patience.  Any  sudden 
or  violent  act  on  your  part  now  would  result  in  no  good, 
and  lead  to  much  evil.  Let  me,  then,  pray  you  to 
remain  quiet  in  your  home,  confident  that  Mr.  Orcutt 
and  myself  will  do  all  in  our  power  to  insure  justice  and 
make  the  truth  evident." 

She  bowed,  but  did  not  speak  ;  while  her  impatient 
eye,  resting  feverishly  on  the  door,  told  of  her  anxiety 
to  depart. 

"  She  will  need  watching,"  commented  Mr.  Ferris  to 
himself,  and  he,  too,  waited  impatiently  for  the  detec- 
tives' return.  When  they  came  in  he  gave  Imogene  to 
their  charge,  but  the  look  he  cast  Byrd  contained  a 
hint  which  led  that  gentleman  to  take  his  hat  when 
he  went  below  to  put  Miss  Dare  into  her  carriage. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  475 


XXXVII. 


UNDER  THE  GREAT  TREE. 


We  but  teach 
Bloody  instructions,  which,  being  taught,  return 
To  plague  the  inventor.    This  even-handed  justice 
Commends  the  ingredients  of  our  poisoned  chalice 
To  our  own  lips.  —Macbeth. 

IMOGENE  went  to  her  home.  Confused,  disordered, 
the  prey  of  a  thousand  hopes  and  a  thousand  fears, 
she  sought  for  solitude  and  found  it  within  the  four  walls 
of  the  small  room  which  was  now  her  only  refuge. 

The  two  detectives  who  had  followed  her  to  the  house 
— the  one  in  the  carriage,  the  other  on  foot — met,  as  the 
street-door  closed  upon  her  retreating  form,  and  con- 
sulted together  as  to  their  future  course. 

"  Mr.  Ferris  thinks  we  ought  to  keep  watch  over  the 
house,  to  make  sure  she  does  not  leave  it  again,"  an- 
nounced Mr.  Byrd. 

"  Does  he  ?  Well,  then,  I  am  the  man  for  that  job," 
quoth  Hickory.  "  I  was  on  this  very  same  beat  last 
night." 

"  Good  reason  why  you  should  rest  and  give  me  a 
turn  at  the  business,"  declared  the  other. 

"Do  you  want  it?" 

"  I  am  willing  to  take  it,"  said  Byrd. 

"  Well,  then,  after  nine  o'clock  you  shall." 

"  Why  after  nine  ?  " 


476  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Because  if  she  's  bent  on  skylarking,  she  '11  leave  the 
house  before  then,"  laughed  the  other. 

"  And  you  want  to  be  here  if  she  goes  out  ?  " 

"Well,  yes,  rather !  " 

They  compromised  matters  by  both  remaining,  Byrd 
within  view  of  the  house  and  Hickory  on  a  corner  within 
hail.  Neither  expected  much  from  this  effort  at  sur- 
veillance, there  seeming  to  be  no  good  reason  why  she 
should  venture  forth  into  the  streets  again  that  night. 
But  the  watchfulness  of  the  true  detective  mind  is  un- 
ceasing. 

Several  hours  passed.  The  peace  of  evening  had  come 
at  last  to  the  troubled  town.  In  the  streets,  especially, 
its  gentle  influence  was  felt,  and  regions  which  had  seethed 
all  day  with  a  restless  and  impatient  throng  were  fast  set- 
tling into  their  usual  quiet  and  solitary  condition.  A  new 
moon  hung  in  the  west,  and  to  Mr.  Byrd,  pacing  the  walk 
in  front  of  Imogene's  door,  it  seemed  as  if  he  had  never 
seen  the  town  look  more  lovely  or  less  like  the  abode  of 
violence  and  crime.  All  was  so  quiet,  especially  in  the 
house  opposite  him,  he  was  fast  becoming  convinced  that 
further  precautions  were  needless,  and  that  Imogene  had 
no  intention  of  stirring  abroad  again,  when  the  window 
where  her  light  burned  suddenly  became  dark,  and  he 
perceived  the  street  door  cautiously  open,  and  her  tall, 
vailed  figure  emerge  and  pass  rapidly  up  the  street. 
Merely  stopping  to  give  the  signal  to  Hickory,  he  hast- 
ened after  her  with  rapid  but  cautious  steps. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  477 

She  went  like  one  bound  on  no  uncertain  errand. 
Though  many  of  the  walks  were  heavily  shaded,  and  the 
light  of  the  lamps  was  not  brilliant,  she  speeded  on  from 
corner  to  corner,  threading  the  business  streets  with 
rapidity,  and  emerging  upon  the  large  and  handsome 
avenue  that  led  up  toward  the  eastern  district  of  the  town 
before  Hickory  could  overtake  Byrd,  and  fand  sufficient 
breath  to  ask  : 

"  Where  is  she  bound  for  ?     Who  lives  up  this  way  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Byrd,  lowering  his  voice  in  '• 
the  fear  of  startling  her  into  a  knowledge  of  their  pres- 
ence.    **  It  may  be  she  is  going  to  Miss  Tremaine's  ;  the 
High  School  is  somewhere  in  this  direction." 

But  even  as  they  spoke,  the  gliding  figure  before  them 
turned  into  another  street,  and  before  they  knew  it,  they 
were  on  the  car-track  leading  out  to  Somerset  Park. 

"  Ha !  I  know  now,"  whispered  Hickory.  "  It  is 
Orcutt  she  is  after."  And  pressing  the  arm  of  Byrd  in 
his  enthusiasm,  he  speeded  after  her  with  renewed  zeal. 

Byrd,  seeing  no  reason  to  dispute  a  fact  that  was  every 
moment  becoming  more  evident,  hurried  forward  also, 
and  after  a  long  and  breathless  walk — for  she  seemed  to 
be  urged  onward  by  flying  feet — they  found  themselves 
within  sight  of  the  grand  old  trees  that  guarded  the 
entrance  to  the  lawyer's  somewhat  spacious  grounds. 

"  What  are  we  going  to  do  now  ?  "  asked  Byrd,  stop- 
ping, as  they  heard  the  gate  click  behind  her. 

"  Wait  and  watch,"  said  Hickory.     "  She  has  not  led 


478  HAND   AND    RING. 

us  this  wild-goose  chase  for  nothing."  And  leaping  the 
hedge,  he  began  creeping  up  toward  the  house,  leaving 
his  companion  to  follow  or  not,  as  he  saw  fit. 

Meantime  Imogene  had  passed  up  the  walk  and 
paused  before  the  front  door.  But  a  single  look  at  it 
seemed  to  satisfy  her,  for,  moving  hurriedly  away,  she 
flitted  around  the  corner  of  the  house  and  stopped  just 
before  the  long  windows  whose  brightly  illumined  sashes 
proclaimed  that  the  master  of  the  house  was  still  in  his 
library. 

She  seemed  to  feel  relieved  at  this  sight.  Pausing,  she 
leaned  against  the  frame  of  a  trellis-work  near  by  to 
gather  up  her  courage  or  regain  her  breath  before  pro- 
ceeding to  make  her  presence  known  to  the  lawyer.  As 
she  thus  leaned,  the  peal  of  the  church  clock  was  heard, 
striking  the  hour  of  nine.  She  started,  possibly  at  finding 
it  so  late,  and  bending  forward,  looked  at  the  windows 
before  her  with  an  anxious  eye  that  soon  caught  sight  of 
a  small  opening  left  by  the  curtains  having  been  drawn 
together  by  -a  too  hasty  or  a  too  careless  hand,  and 
recognizing  the  opportunity  it  afforded  for  a  glimpse  into 
the  room  before  her,  stepped  with  a  light  tread  upon  the 
piazza  and  quietly  peered  within. 

The  sight  she  saw  never  left  her  memory. 

Seated  before  a  deadened  fire,  she  beheld  Mr.  Orcutt. 
He  was  neither  writing  nor  reading,  nor,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  thinking.  The  papers  he  had  evidently 
taken  from  his  desk,  lay  at  his  side  undisturbed,  and 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  479 

from  one  end  of  the  room  to  the  other,  solitude,  suffering, 
and  despair  seemed  to  fill  the  atmosphere  and  weigh  upon 
its  dreary  occupant,  till  the  single  lamp  which  shone 
beside  him  burned  dimmer  and  dimmer,  like  a  life  going 
out  or  a  purpose  vanishing  in  the  gloom  of  a  stealthily 
approaching  destiny. 

Imogene,  who  had  come  to  this  place  thus  secretly  and 
at  this  late  hour  of  the  day  with  the  sole  intent  of  procur- 
ing the  advice  of  this  man  concerning  the  deception 
which  had  been  practised  upon  her  before  the  trial,  felt 
her  heart  die  within  her  as  she  surveyed  this  rigid  figure 
and  realized  all  it  implied.  Though  his  position  was 
such  she  could  not  see  his  face,  there  was  that  in  his 
attitude  which  bespoke  hopelessness  and  an  utter  weari- 
ness of  life,  and  as  ash  after  ash  fell  from  the  grate,  she 
imagined  how  the  gloom  deepened  on  the  brow  which  till 
this  hour  had  confronted  the  world  with  such  undeviating 
courage  and  confidence. 

It  was  therefore  a  powerful  shock  to  her  when,  in 
another  moment,  he  looked  up,  atid,  without  moving  his 
body,  turned  his  head  slowly  around  in  such  a  way  as  to 
afford  her  a  glimpse  of  his  face.  For,  in  all  her  memory 
of  it — and  she  had  seen  it  distorted  by  many  and  various 
emotions  during  the  last  few  weeks — she  had  never  beheld 
it  wear  such  a  look  as  now.  It  gave  her  a  new  idea  of 
the  man  ;  it  filled  her  with  dismay,  and  sent  the  life-blood 
from  her  cheeks.  It  fascinated  her,  as  the  glimpse  of  any 
evil  thing  fascinates,  and  held  her  spell-bound  long  after 


480  HAND   AND    RING. 

he  had  turned  back  again  to  his  silent  contemplation  of 
the  fire  and  its  ever-drifting  ashes.  It  was  as  if  a  vail 
had  been  rent  before  her  eyes,  disclosing  to  her  a  living 
soul  writhing  in  secret  struggle  with  its  own  worst  pas- 
sions ;  and  horrified  at  the  revelation,  more  than  horri- 
fied at  the  remembrance  that  it  was  her  own  action  of 
the  morning  which  had  occasioned  this  change  in  one  she 
had  long  reverenced,  if  not  loved,  she  sank  helplessly 
upon  her  knees  and  pressed  her  face  to  the  window  in  a 
prayer  for  courage  to  sustain  this  new  woe  and  latest,  if 
not  heaviest,  disappointment. 

It  came  while  she  was  kneeling — came  in  the  breath  of 
the  cold  night  wind,  perhaps  ;  for,  rising  up,  she  turned 
her  forehead  gratefully  to  the  breeze,  and  drew  in  long 
draughts  of  it  before  she  lifted  her  hand  and  knocked 
upon  the  window. 

The  sharp,  shrill  sound  made  by  her  fingers  on  the 
pane  reassured  her  as  much  as  it  startled  him.  Gathering 
up  her  long  cloak,  which  had  fallen  apart  in  her  last 
hurried  movement,  she  waited  with  growing  self-posses- 
sion for  his  appearance  at  the  window. 

He  came  almost  immediately — came  with  his  usual 
hasty  step  and  with  much  of  his  usual  expression  on  his 
well-disciplined  features.  Flinging  aside  the  curtains,  he 
cried  impatiently  :  "  Who  is  there  ?  "  But  at  sight  of  the 
tall  figure  of  Imogene  standing  upright  and  firm  on  the 
piazza  without,  he  drew  back  with  a  gesture  of  dismay, 
which  was  almost  forbidding  in  its  character. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  48 1 

She  saw  it,  but  did  not  pause.  Pushing  up  the  window, 
she  stepped  into  the  room  ;  then,  as  he  did  not  offer  to 
help  her,  turned  and  shut  the  window  behind  her  and 
carefully  arranged  the  curtains.  He  meantime  stood 
watching  her  with  eyes  in  whose  fierce  light  burned  equal 
love  and  equal  anger. 

When  all  was  completed,  she  faced  him.  Instantly  a 
cry  broke  from  his  lips  : 

"  You  here  !  "  he  exclaimed,  as  if  her  presence  were 
more  than  he  could  meet  or  stand.  But  in  another  mo- 
ment the  forlornness  of  her  position  seemed  to  strike  him, 
and  he  advanced  toward  her,  saying  in  a  voice  husky 
with  passion  :  "  Wretched  woman,  what  have  you  done  ? 
Was  it  not  enough  that  for  weeks,  months  now,  you 
have  played  with  my  love  and  misery  as  with  toys,  that 
you  should  rise  up  at  the  last  minute  and  crush  meT  before 
the  whole  world  with  a  story,  mad  as  it  is  false,  of  your- 
self being  a  criminal  and  the  destroyer  of  the  woman  for 
whose  death  your  miserable  lover  is  being  tried  ?  Had 
you  no  consideration,  no  pity,  if  not  for  yourself,  ruined 
by  this  day's  work,  for  me,  who  have  sacrificed  every  thing, 
done  every  thing  the  most  devoted  man  or  lawyer  could 
do  to  save  this  fellow  and  win  you  for  my  wife  ?" 

"  Sir,"  said  she,  meeting  the  burning  anger  of  his  look 
with  the  coldness  of  a  set  despair,  as  if  in  the  doubt 
awakened  by  his  changed  demeanor  she  sought  to  probe 
his  mind  for  its  hidden  secret,  "  I  did  what  any  other 
woman  would  have  done  in  my  place.  When  we  are 
pushed  to  the  wall  we  tell  the  truth." 


482  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  The  truth  !  "  Was  that  his  laugh  that  rang  startlingly 
through  the  room  ?  "  The  truth  !  You  told  the  truth  ! 
Imogene,  Imogene,  is  any  such  farce  necessary  with 
me  ?" 

Her  lips,  which  had  opened,  closed  again,  and  she  did 
not  answer  for  a  moment  ;  then  she  asked  : 

"  How  do  you  know  thai:  what  I  said  was  not  the 
truth?" 

"  How  do  I  know  ? "  He  paused  as  if  to  get  his 
breath.  "  How  do  I  know  ?  "  he  repeated,  calling  up  all 
his  self-control  to  sustain  her  gaze  unmoved.  "  Do  you 
think  I  have  lost  my  reason,  Imogene,  that  you  put 
me  such  a  question  as  that  ?  How  do  I  know  you  are 
innocent  ?  Recall  your  own  words  and  acts  since  the 
day  we  met  at  ]\Irs.  Clemmens'  house,  and  tell  me  how  it 
would  be  possible  for  me  to  think  any  thing  else  of 
you  ? " 

But  her  purpose  did  not  relax,  neither  did  she  falter  as 
she  returned  : 

"  Mr.  Orcutt,  will  you  tell  me  what  has  ever  been  said 
by  me  or  what  you  have  ever  known  me  to  do  that  would 
make  it  certain  I  did  not  commit  this  crime  myself  ?  " 

His  indignation  was  too  much  for  his  courtesy. 

"Imogene,"  he  commanded,  "be  silent  !  "I  will  not 
listen  to  any  further  arguments  of  this  sort.  Is  n't  it 
enough  that  you  have  destroyed  my  happiness,  that  you 
should  seek  to  sport  with  my  good-sense  ?  I  say  you  are 
innocent  as  a  babe  unborn,  not  only  of  the  crime  itself 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  483 

but  of  any  complicity  in  it.  Every  word  you  have  spoken, 
every  action  you  have  taken,  since  the  day  of  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  death,  proves  you  to  be  the  victim  of  a  fixed 
conviction  totally  at  war  with  the  statement  you  were 
pleased  to  make  to-day.  Only  your  belief  in  the  guilt  of 
another  and  your — your " 

He  stopped,  choked.  The  thought  of  his  rival  mad- 
dened him. 

She  immediately  seized  the  opportunity  to  say  : 

"  Mr.  Orcutt,  I  cannot  argue  about  what  I  have  done. 
It  is  over  and  cannot  be  remedied.  It  is  true  I  have 
destroyed  myself,  but  this  is  no  time  to  think  of  that. 
All  I  can  think  of  or  mourn  over  now  is  that,  by 
destroying  myself,  I  have  not  succeeded  in  saving  Craik 
Mansell." 

If  her  purpose  was  to  probe  the  lawyer's  soul  for 
the  deadly  wound  that  had  turned  all  his  sympathies 
to  gall,  she  was  successful  at  last.  Turning  upon  her 
with  a  look  in  which  despair  and  anger  were  strangely 
mingled,  he  cried  : 

"  And  me,  Imogene — have  you  no  thought  for  me  ?" 

"  Sir,"  said  she,  "  any  thought  from  one  disgraced  as  I 
am  now,  would  be  an  insult  to  one  of  your  character  and 
position." 

It  was  true.  In  the  eyes  of  the  world  Tremont 
Orcutt  and  Imogene  Dare  henceforth  stood  as  far  apart 
as  the  poles.  Realizing  it  only  too  well,-  he  uttered  a 
half-inarticulate  exclamation,  and  trod  restlessly  to  the 


484  HAND   AND   RING. 

Other  end  of  the  room.  When  he  came  back,  it  was 
with  more  of  the  lawyer's  aspect  and  less  of  the  baffled 
lover's. 

**  Imogene,"  he  said,  "  what  could  have  induced  you 
to  resort  to  an  expedient  so  dreadful  ?  Had  you  lost 
confidence  in  me  ?  Had  I  not  told  you  I  would  s&vr 
this  man  from  his  threatened  fate  ?  " 

*'  You  cannot  do  every  thing,"  she  replied.  "  There 
are  limits  even  to  a  power  like  yours.  I  knew  that 
Craik  was  lost  if  I  gave  to  the  court  the  testimony  which 
Mr.  Ferris  expected  from  me." 

"  Ah,  then,"  he  cried,  seizing  with  his  usual  quickness 
at  the  admission  which  had  thus  unconsciously,  perhaps, 
slipped  from  her,  "  you  acknowledge  you  uttered  a  per- 
jury to  save  yourself  from  making  declarations  you 
believed  to  be  hurtful  to  the  prisoner?  " 

A  faint  smile  crossed  her  lips,  and  her  whole  aspect 
suddenly  changed. 

"  Yes,"  she  said  ;  "  I  have  no  motive  for  hiding  it 
from  you  now.  I  perjured  myself  to  escape  destroying 
Craik  Mansell.  I  was  scarcely  the  mistress  of  my  own 
actions.  I  had  suffered  so  much  I  was  ready  to  do  any 
thing  to  save  the  man  I  had  so  relentlessly  pushed  to  his 
doom.     I  forgot  that  God  does  not  prosper  a  lie." 

The  jealous  gleam  which  answered  her  from  the  law- 
yer's eyes  was  a  revelation. 

"You  regret,  then,"  he  said,  "that  you  tossed  my 
happiness  away  with  a  breath  of  your  perjured  lips  ? " 

"  I  regret  I  did  not  tell  the  truth  and  trust  God." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  485 

At  this  answer,  uttered  with  the  simplicity  of  a  penitent 
spirit,  Mr.  Orcutt  unconsciously  drew  back. 

"And,  may  I  ask,  what  has  caused  this  sudden 
regret  ?  "  he  inquired,  in  a  tone  not  far  removed  from 
mockery  ;  "  the  generous  action  of  the  prisoner  in  reliev- 
ing you  from  your  self-imposed  burden  of  guilt  by  an 
acknowledgment  that  struck  at  the  foundation  of  the 
defence  I  had  so  carefully  prepared  ?  " 

"  No,"  was  her  short  reply  ;  "  that  could  but  afford  me 
joy.  Of  whatever  sin  he  may  be  guilty,  he  is  at  least 
free  from  the  reproach  of  accepting  deliverance  at  the 
expense  of  a  woman.  I  am  sorry  I  said  what  I  did 
to-day,  because  a  revelation  has  since  been  made  to 
me,  which  proves  I  could  never  have  sustained  myself 
in  the  position  I  took,  and  that  it  was  mere  suicidal 
folly  in  me  to  attempt  to  save  Craik  Mansell  by  such 
means." 

"  A  revelation  ?  " 

"  Yes."  And,  forgetting  all  else  in  the  purpose  which 
had  actuated  her  in  seeking  this  interview,  Imogene  drew 
nearer  to  the  lawyer  and  earnestly  said  :  "  There  have 
been  some  persons — I  have  perceived  it— who  have  won- 
dered at  my  deep  conviction  of  Craik  Mansell's  guilt. 
But  the  reasons  I  had  justified  it.  They  were  great, 
greater  than  any  one  knew,  greater  even  than  you  knew. 
His  mother — were  she  living — must  have  thought  as  I 
did,  had  she  been  placed  beside  me  and  seen  what  I 
have  seen,  and  heard  what  I  have  heard  from  the  time 


486  HAND   AND    RING. 

• 

of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  death.  Not  only  were  all  the  facts 
brought  against  him  in  the  trial  known  to  me,  but  I  saw 
him — saw  him  with  my  own  eyes,  running  from  Mrs. 
Clemmens'  dining-room  door  at  the  very  time  we  suppose 
the  murder  to  have  been  committed ;  that  is,  at  five 
minutes  before  noon  on  the  fatal  day." 

"  Impossible  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Orcutt,  in  his  astonish- 
ment.    "  You  are  playing  with  my  credulity,  Imogene." 

But  she  went  on,  letting  her  voice  fall  in  awe  of  the 
lawyer's  startled  look. 

"  No,"  she  persisted  ;  "  I  was  in  Professor  Darling's 
observatory.  I  was  looking  through  a  telescope,  which 
had  been  pointed  toward  the  town.  Mrs.  Clemmens 
was  much  in  my  mind  at  the  time,  and  I  took  the  notion 
to  glance  at  her  house,  when  I  saw  what  I  have  described 
to  you.  I  could  not  help  remembering  the  time,"  she 
added,  "  for  I  had  looked  at  the  clock  but  a  moment 
before." 

"  And  it  was  five  minutes  before  noon  ?  "  broke  again 
from  the  lawyer's  lips,  in  what  was  almost  an  awe-struck 
tone. 

Troubled  at  an  astonishment  which  seemed  to  partake 
of  the  nature  of  alarm,  she  silently  bowed  her  head. 

"  And  you  were  looking  at  him — actually  looking  at 
him — that  very  moment  through  a  telescope  perched  a 
mile  or  so  away  ?  " 

"Yes,"  she  bowed  again. 

Turning  his    face    aside,    Mr,    Orcutt   walked    to   the 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  487 

hearth  and  began  kicking  the  burnt-out  logs  with  his 
restless  foot.  As  he  did  so,  Imogene  heard  him  mutter 
between  his  set  teeth  : 

"  It  is  almost  enough  to  make  one  believe  in  a  God  !  " 

Struck,  horrified,  she  glided  anxiously  to  his  side. 

"  Do  not  you  believe  in  a  God  ? "  she  asked. 

He  was  silent. 

Amazed,  almost  frightened,  for  she  had  never  heard 
him  breathe  a  word  of  scepticism  before, — though,  to  be 
sure,  he  had  never  mentioned  the  name  of  the  Deity  in 
her  presence, — she  stood  looking  at  him  like  one  who  had 
received  a  blow  ;  then  she  said  : 

"  I  believe  in  God.  It  is  my  punishment  that  I  do.  It 
is  He  who  wills  blood  for  blood  ;  who  dooms  the  guilty 
to  a  merited  death.  Oh,  if  He  only  would  accept  the 
sacrifice  I  so  willingly  offer ! — take  the  life  I  so  little 
value,  and  give  me  in  return " 

"  Mansell's  ?  "  completed  the  lawyer,  turning  upon  her 
in  a  burst  of  fury  he  no  longer  had  power  to  suppress. 
"  Is  that  your  cry — always  and  forever  your  cry  ?  You 
drive  me  too  far,  Imogene.  This  mad  and  senseless 
passion  for  a  man  who  no  longer  loves  you " 

"  Spare  me  !  "  rose  from  her  trembling  lips.  "  Let  me 
forget  that." 

But  the  great  lawyer  only  laughed. 

"  You  make  it  worth  my  while  to  save  you  the  bitter- 
ness of  such  a  remembrance,"  he  cried.  Then,  as  she 
remained  silent,  he  changed  his  tone  to  one  of  careless 
inquiry,  and  asked  : 


488  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  Was  it  to  tell  this  story  of  the  prisoner  having  fled 
from  his  aunt's  house  that  you  came  here  to-night  ?  " 

Recalled  to  the  purpose  of  the  hour,  she  answered, 
hurriedly  : 

"  Not  entirely  ;  that  story  was  what  Mr.  Ferris  ex- 
pected me  to  testify  to  in  court  this  morning.  You  see 
for  yourself  in  what  a  position  it  would  have  put  the 
prisoner." 

"  And  the  revelation  you  have  received  ?  "  the  lawyer 
coldly  urged. 

'*  Was  of  a  deception  that  has  been  practised  upon  me 
— a  base  deception  by  which  I  was  led  to  think  long  ago 
that  Craik  Mansell  had  admitted  his  guilt  and  only 
trusted  to  the  excellence  of  his  defence  to  escape  punish- 
ment." 

"  I  do  not  understand,  said  Mr.  Orcutt.  "  Who 
could  have  practised  such  deception  upon  you } " 

"  The  detectives,"  she  murmured  ;  "  that  rough,  heart- 
less fellow  tliey  call  Hickory."  And,  in  a  burst  of  in- 
dignation, she  told  how  she  had  been  practised  upon,  and 
what  the  results  had  been  upon  her  belief,  if  not  upon 
the  testimony  which  grew  out  of  that  belief. 

The  lawyer  listened  with  a  strange  apathy.  What 
would  once  have  aroused  his  fiercest  indignation  and 
fired  him  to  an  exertion  of  his  keenest  powers,  fell  on 
him  now  like  the  tedious  repetition  of  an  old  and  worn- 
out  tale.  He  scarcely  looked  up  when  she  was  done  ; 
and  despair — the  first,  perhaps,  she  had  ever  really  felt — 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  489 

began  to  close  in  around  her  as  she  saw  how  deep  a  gulf 
she  had  dug  between  this  man  and  herself  by  the  incon- 
siderate act  which  had  robbed  him  of  all  hope  of  ever 
making  her  his  wife.  Moved  by  this  feeling,  she  sud- 
denly asked  : 

"  Have  you  lost  all  interest  in  your  client,  Mr.  Orcutt  ? 
Have  you  no  wish  or  hope  remaining  of  seeing  him 
acquitted  of  this  crime  ?  " 

"  My  client,"  responded  the  lawyer,  with  bitter  em- 
phasis, "  has  taken  his  case  into  his  own  hands.  It 
would  be  presumptuous  in  me  to  attempt  any  thing  further 
in  his  favor." 

"  Mr.  Orcutt  !  " 

"  Ah  !  "  he  scornfully  laughed,  with  a  quick  yielding 
to  his  passion  as  startling  as  it  was  unexpected,  "  you 
thought  you  could  play  with  me  as  you  would  ;  use  my 
skill  and  ignore  the  love  that  prompted  it.  You  are  a 
clever  woman,  Imogene,  but  you  went  too  far  when  you 
considered  my  forbearance  unlimited." 

"  And  you  forsake  Craik  Mansell,  in  the  hour  of  his 
extremity  ?  " 

"  Craik  Mansell  has  forsaken  me." 

This  was  true  ;  for  her  sake  her  lover  had  thrown  his 
defence  to  the  winds  and  rendered  the  assistance  of  his 
counsel  unavailable.  Seeing  her  droop  her  head  abashed, 
Mr.  Orcutt  dryly  proceeded. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  may  take  place  in  court  to-mor- 
row," said  he.     "  It  is  difficult  to  determine  what  will  be 


490  HAND    AND    RING. 

the  outcome  of  so  complicated  a  case.  The  District 
Attorney,  in  consideration  of  the  deception  which  has 
been  practised  upon  you,  may  refuse  to  prosecute  any 
further  ;  or,  if  the  case  goes  on  and  the  jury  is  called 
upon  for  a  verdict,  they  may  or  may  not  be  moved  by  its 
peculiar  aspects  to  acquit  a  man  of  such  generous  dis- 
positions. If  they  are,  I  shall  do  nothing  to  hinder  an 
acquittal ;  but  ask  for  no  more  active  measures  on  my 
part.  I  cannot  plead  for  the  lover  of  the  woman  who  has 
disgraced  me." 

This  decision,  from  one  she  had  trusted  so  implicitly, 
seemed  to  crush  her. 

"Ah,"  she  murmured,  "if  you  did  not  believe  him 
guilty  you  would  not  leave  him  thus  to  his  fate." 

He  gave  her  a  short,  side-long  glance,  half-mocking, 
half-pitiful. 

"  If,"  she  pursued,  "you  had  felt  even  a  passing  gleam 
of  doubt,  such  as  came  to  me  when  I  discovered  that  he 
had  never  really  admitted  his  guilt,  you  would  let  no 
mere  mistake  on  the  part  of  a  woman  turn  you  from  your 
duty  as  counsellor  for  a  man  on  trial  for  his  life." 

His  glance  lost  its  pity  and  became  wholly  mocking. 

"  And  do  you  cherish  but  passing  gleams  ?  "  he  sar- 
castically asked. 

She  started  back. 

"  I  laugh  at  the  inconsistency  of  women,"  he  cried. 
"  You  have  sacrificed  every  thing,  even  risked  your  life 
for   a   man    you    really  believe    guilty  of   crime ;   yet  if 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  49I 

another  man  similarly  stained  asked  you  for  your  com- 
passion only,  you  would  fly  from  him  as  from  a  pesti- 
lence." 

But  no  words  he  could  utter  of  this  sort  were  able  to 
raise  any  emotion  in  her  now. 

"Mr.  Orcutt,"  she  demanded,  " do  jou  believe  Craik 
Mansell  innocent  ?  " 

His  old  mocking  smile  came  back. 

"  Have  I  conducted  his  case  as  if  I  believed  him 
guilty  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  No,  no  ;  but  you  are  his  lawyer  ;  you  are  bound  not 
to  let  your  real  thoughts  appear.  But  in  your  secret 
heart  you  did  not,  could  not,  believe  he  was  free  from  a 
crime  to  which  he  is  linked  by  so  many  criminating  cir- 
cumstances ?  " 

But  his  strange  smile  remaining  unchanged,  she  seemed 
to  waken  to  a  sudden  doubt,  and  leaping  impetuously  to 
his  side^  laid  her  hand  on  his  arm  and  exclaimed  : 

"  Oh,  sir,  if  you  have  ever  cherished  one  hope  of  his 
innocence,  no  matter  how  faint  or  small,  tell  me  of  it,  even 
if  this  last  disclosure  has  convinced  you  of  its  folly  !  " 

Giving  her  an  icy  look,  he  drew  his  arm  slowly  from 
her  grasp  and  replied  : 

"  Mr.  Mansell  has  never  been  considered  guilty  by 
me." 

"  Never  ?  " 

"  Never." 

"  Not  even  now  ?  " 


492  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Not  even  now," 

It  seemed  as  if  she  could  not  believe  his  words. 

"  And  yet  you  know  all  there  is  against  him  ;  all  that  I 
do  now  !  " 

"  I  know  he  visited  his  aunt's  house  at  or  after  the  time 
she  was  murdered,  but  that  is  no  proof  he  killed  her, 
Miss  Dare." 

"No,"  she  admitted  with  slow  conviction,  "no.  But 
why  did  he  fly  in  that  wild  way  when  he  left  it  ?  Why  did 
he  go  straight  to  Buffalo  and  not  wait  to  give  me  the  in- 
terview he  promised  ? " 

"  Shall  I  tell  you  ? "  Mr.  Orcutt  inquired,  with  a 
dangerous  sneer  on  his  lips.  "  Do  you  wish  to  know  why 
this  man — the  man  you  have  so  loved — the  man  for 
whom  you  would  die  this  moment,  has  conducted  himself 
with  such  marked  discretion  ?" 

"  Yes,"  came  like  a  breath  from  between  Imogene's 
parted  lips. 

"  Well,"  said  the  lawyer,  dropping  his  words  with  cruel 
clearness,  "  Mr.  Mansell  has  a  great  faith  in  women.  He 
has  such  faith  in  you,  Imogene  Dare,  he  thinks  you  are 
all  you  declare  yourself  to  be  ;  that  in  the  hour  you  stood 
up  before  the  court  and  called  yourself  a  murderer,  you 

spoke  but   the   truth  ;  that "    He  stopped  ;  even  his 

scornful  aplomb  would  not  allow  him  to  go  on  in  the  face 
of  the  look  she  wore. 

"  Say — say  those  words  again  !  "  she  gasped,  "  Let  me 
hear  them  once  more.     He  thinks  what  ?  " 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  493 

"  That  you  are  what  you  proclaimed  yourself  to  be  this 
day,  the  actual  assailant  and  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemmens. 
He  has  thought  so  all  along,  Miss  Dare,  why,  I  do  not 
know.  Whether  he  saw  any  thing  or  heard  any  thing  in 
that  house  from  which  you  saw  him  fly  so  abruptly,  or 
whether  he  relied  solely  upon  the  testimony  of  the  ring, 
which  you  must  remember  he  never  acknowledged  hav- 
ing received  back  from  you,  I  only  know  that  from  the 
minute  he  heard  of  his  aunt's  death,  his  suspicions  flew 
to  you,  and  that,  in  despite  of  such  suggestions  as  I  felt 
it  judicious  to  make,  they  have  never  suffered  shock  or 
been  turned  from  their  course  from  that  day  to  this. 
Such  honor,"  concluded  Mr.  Orcutt,  with  dry  sarcasm, 
"  does  the  man  you  love  show  to  the  woman  who  has 
sacrificed  for  his  sake  all  that  the  world  holds  dear." 

"  I — I  cannot  believe  it.  You  are  mocking  me,"  came 
inarticulately  from  her  lips,  while  she  drew  back,  step  by 
step,  till  half  the  room  lay  between  them. 

"  Mocking  you  ?  Miss  Dare,  he  has  shown  his  feel- 
ings so  palpably,  I  have  often  trembled  lest  the  whole 
court  should  see  and  understand  them." 

"  You  have  trembled  " — she  could   scarcely  speak,  the 
rush  of  her  emotion  was   so  great — ^^ you  have  trembled 
lest  the  whole  court  should  see  he  suspected  me  of  this 
crime  ? " 
"  Yes." 

"  Then,"  she  cried,  "you  must  have  been  convinced, — 
Ah  !  "  she  hurriedly  interposed,  with   a  sudden  look  of 


494  HAND   AND    RING. 

distrust,  *'  you  are  not  amusing  yourself  with  me,  are  you, 
Mr.  Orcutt  ?  So  many  traps  have  been  laid  for  me  from 
time  to  time,  I  dare  not  trust  the  truth  of  my  best  friend. 
Swear  you  believe  Craik  Mansell  to  have  thought  this  of 
me  !  Swear  you  have  seen  this  dark  thing  lying  in  his 
soul,  or  I " 

"  What  ?  " 

"  Will  confront  him  myself  with  the  question,  if  I  have 
to  tear  down  the  walls  of  the  prison  to  reach  him.  His 
mind  I  must  and  will  know." 

"Very  well,  then,  you  do.  I  have  told  you,"  declared 
Mr.  Orcutt.  "  Swearing  would  not  make  it  any  more 
true." 

Lifting  her  face  to  heaven,  she  suddenly  fell  on  her 
knees. 

"O  God!"  she  murmured,  "help  me  to  bear  this 
great  joy  !  " 

The  icy  tone,  the  fierce  surprise  it  expressed,  started 
her  at  once  to  her  feet. 

"Yes,"  she  murmured,  "joy  !  Don't  you  see  that  if  he 
thinks  me  guilty,  he  musf  be  innocent  ?  I  am  willing  to 
perish  and  fall  from  the  ranks  of  good  men  and  honor- 
able women  to  be  sure  of  a  fact  like  this  !  " 

"  Imogene,  Imogene,  would  you  drive  me  mad  ?  " 

She  did  not  seem  to  hear. 

"  Craik,  are  you  guiltless,  then  ?"  she  was  saying.  "  Is 
the  past  all  a  dream  !     Are  we  two  nothing  but  victims  of 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  495 

dread  and  awful  circumstances  ?  Oh,  we  will  see  ;  life 
is  not  ended  yet  !  "  And  with  a  burst  of  hope  that 
seemed  to  transfigure  her  into  another  woman,  she  turned 
toward  the  lawyer  with  the  cry  :  "If  he  is  innocent,  he 
can  be  saved.  Nothing  that  has  been  done  by  him  or 
me  can  hurt  him  if  this  be  so.  God  who  watches  over 
this  crime  has  His  eye  on  the  guilty  one.  Though  his 
sin  be  hidden  under  a  mountain  of  deceit,  it  will  yet 
come  forth.     Guilt  like  his  cannot  remain  hidden." 

"You  did  not  think  this  when  you  faced  the  court  this 
morning  with  perjury  on  your  lips,"  came  in  slow,  ironi- 
cal tones  from  her  companion. 

"Heaven  sometimes  accepts  a  sacrifice,"  she  returned. 
"But  who  will  sacrifice  himself  for  a  man  who  could  let 
the  trial  of  one  he  knew  to  be  innocent  go  on  un- 
hindered ? " 

"Who,  indeed  !  "  came  in  almost  stifled  tones  from  the 
lawyer's  lips. 

"  If  a  stranger  and  not  Craik  Mansell  slew  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens,  "  she  went  on,  "and  nothing  but  an  incomprehen- 
sible train  of  coincidences  unites  him  and  me  to  this  act 
of  violence,  then  may  God  remember  the  words  of  the 
widow,  and  in  His  almighty  power  call  down  such  a 
doom " 

She  ended  with  a  gasp.  Mr.  Orcutt,  with  a  sudden 
movement,  had  laid  his  hand  upon  her  lips. 

"  Hush  !  "  he  said,  "  let  no  curses  issue  from  your 
mouth.     The  guilty  can  perish  without  that." 


496  HAND   AND   RING. 

Releasing  herself  from  him  in  alarm,  she  drew  back, 
her  eyes  slowly  dilating  as  she  noted  the  dead  whiteness 
that  had  settled  over  his  face,  and  taken  even  the  hue  of 
life  from  his  nervously  trembling  lip. 

"Mr.  Orcutt,"  she  whispered,  with  a  solemnity  which 
made  them  heedless  that  the  lamp  which  had  been  burn- 
ing lower  and  lower  in  its  socket  was  giving  out  its  last 
fitful  rays,  "  if  Craik  Mansell  did  not  kill  the  Widow 
Clemmens  who  then  did  ? " 

Her  question — or  was  it  her  look  and  tone  ? — seemed 
to  transfix  Mr.  Orcutt.  But  it  was  only  for  a  moment. 
Turning  with  a  slight  gesture  to  the  table  at  his  side,  he 
fumbled  with  his  papers,  still  oblivious  of  the  flaring 
lamp,  saying  slowly  : 

"  I  have  always  supposed  Gouverneur  Hildreth  to  be 
the  true  author  of  this  crime." 

"  Gouverneur  Hildreth  ?  " 

Mr,  Orcutt  bowed. 

"  I  do  not  agree  with  you,"  she  returned,  moving 
slowly  toward  the  window.  "  I  am  no  reader  of  human 
hearts,  as  all  my  past  history  shows,  but  something — is  it 
the  voice  of  God  in  my  breast  ? — tells  me  that  Gouverneur 
Hildreth  is  as  innocent  as  Craik   Mansell,  and  that  the 

true    murderer   of    Mrs.    Clemmens "      Her   words 

ended  in  a  shriek.  The  light,  which  for  so  long  a  time 
had  been  flickering  to  its  end,  had  given  one  startling 
flare  in  which  the  face  of  the  man  before  her  had  flashed 
on  her  view  in  a  ghastly  flame  that  seemed  to  separate  it 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  497 

from  all  surrounding  objects,  then  as  suddenly  gone  out, 
leaving  the  room  in  total  darkness. 

In  the  silence  that  followed,  a  quick  sound  as  of  rush- 
ing feet  was  heard,  then  the  window  was  pushed  up 
and  the  night  air  came  moaning  in.     Imogene  had  fled. 

Horace  Byrd  had  not  followed  Hickory  in  his  rush 
toward  the  house.  He  had  preferred  to  await  results  un- 
der the  great  tree  which,  standing  just  inside  the  gate, 
cast  its  mysterious  and  far-reaching  shadow  widely  over 
the  wintry  lawn.  He  was,  therefore,  alone  during  most 
of  the  interview  which  Miss  Dare  held  with  Mr.  Orcutt  in 
the  library,  and,  being  alone,  felt  himself  a  prey  to  his 
sensations  and  the  weirdness  of  the  situation  in  which  he 
found  himself. 

Though  no  longer  a  victim  to  the  passion  with  which 
Miss  Dare  had  at  first  inspired  him,  he  was  by  no  means 
without  feeling  for  this  grand  if  somewhat  misguided  vo- 
man,  and  his  emotions,  as  he  stood  there  awaiting  the  is- 
sue of  her  last  desperate  attempt  to  aid  the  prisoner,  were 
strong  enough  to  make  any  solitude  welcome,  though 
this  solitude  for  some  reason  held  an  influence  which  was 
any  thing  but  enlivening,  if  it  was  not  actually  depressing, 
to  one  of  his  ready  sensibilities. 

The  tree  under  which  he  had  taken  his  stand  was,  as  I 
have  intimated,  an  old  one.  It  had  stood  there  from 
time  immemorial,  and  was,  as  I  have  heard  it  since  said, 
at  once  the  pride  of  Mr.  Orcutt's  heart  and  the  chief  or- 


498  HAND   AND    RING. 

nament  of  his  grounds.  Though  devoid  of  foliage  at  the 
time,  its  vast  and  symmetrical  canopy  of  interlacing 
branches  had  caught  Mr.  Byrd's  attention  from  the  first 
moment  of  his  entrance  beneath  it,  and,  preoccupied 
as  he  was,  he  could  not  prevent  his  thoughts  from  revert- 
ing now  and  then  with  a  curious  sensation  of  awe  to 
the  immensity  of  those  great  limbs  which  branched  above 
him.  His  imagination  was  so  powerfully  affected  at  last, 
he  had  a  notion  of  leaving  the  spot  and  seeking  a 
nearer  look-out  in  the  belt  of  evergreens  that  hid  the 
crouching  form  of  Hickory ;  but  a  spell  seemed  to 
emanate  from  the  huge  trunk  against  which  he  leaned 
that  restrained  him  when  he  sought  to  go,  and  noticing 
almost  at  the  same  moment  that  the  path  which  Miss 
Dare  would  have  to  take  in  her  departure  ran  directly 
under  this  tree,  he  yielded  to  the  apathy  of  the  moment 
and  remained  where  he  was. 

Soon  after  he  was  visited  by  Hickory. 

"  I  can  see  nothing  and  hear  nothing,"  was  that  in- 
dividual's hurried  salutation.  "  She  and  Mr.  Orcutt  are 
evidently  still  in  the  library,  but  I  cannot  get  a  clue 
to  what  is  going  on.  I  shall  keep  up  my  watch,  how- 
ever, for  I  want  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  her  face  as  she 
steps  from  the  window."  And  he  was  off  again  before 
Byrd  could  reply. 

But  the  next  instant  he  was  back,  panting  and  breath- 
less. 

"  The  light  is  out  in  the  library,"  he  cried  ;  "  we  shall 
see  her  no  more  to-night." 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  499 

But  scarcely  had  the  words  left  his  lips  when  a  faint 
sound  was  heard  from  the  region  of  the  piazza,  and  look- 
ing eagerly  up  the  path,  they  saw  the  form  of  Miss  Dare 
coming  hurriedly  toward  them. 

To  slip  around  into  the  deepest  shadow  cast  by  the 
tree  was  but  the  work  of  a  moment.  Meantime,  the 
moon  shone  brightly  on  the  walk  down  which  she  was 
speeding,  and  as,  in  the  agitation  of  her  departure,  she 
had  forgotten  to  draw  down  her  veil,  they  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  view  of  her  face.  It  was  pale,  and  wore  an 
expression  of  fear,  while  her  feet  hasted  as  though  she 
were  only  filled  with  thoughts  of  escape. 

Seeing  this,  the  two  detectives  held  their  breaths,  pre- 
paring to  follow  her  as  soon  as  she  had  passed  the  tree. 
But  she  did  not  pass  the  tree.  Just  as  she  got  within 
reach  of  its  shadow,  a  commanding  voice  was  heard  calling 
upon  her  to  stop,  and  Mr.  Orcutt  came  hurrying,  in  his 
turn,  down  the  path. 

"  I  cannot  let  you  go  thus,"  he  cried,  pausing  beside 
her  on  the  walk  directly  under  the  tree.  "  If  you  com- 
mand me  to  save  Craik  Mansell  I  must  do  it.  What  you 
wish  must  be  done,  Imogene." 

"  My  wishes  should  not  be  needed  to  lead  you  to  do  your 
duty  by  the  man  you  believe  to  be  innocent  of  the  charge 
for  which  he  is  being  tried,"  was  her  earnest  and  strange- 
ly cold  reply. 

"  Perhaps  not,"  he  muttered,  bitterly  ;  "  but — ah,  Im- 
ogene," he  suddenly  broke  forth,  in  a  way  to  startle  these 


50O  HAND  AND   RING. 

two  detectives,  who,  however  suspicious  they  had  been  of 
his  passion,  had  never  before  had  the  opportunity  of  see- 
ing him  under  its  control,  "  what  have  you  made  of  me 
with  your  bewildering  graces  and  indomitable  soul  ?  Be- 
fore I  knew  you,  life  was  a  round  of  honorable  duties  and 
serene  pleasures.  I  lived  in  my  profession,  and  found 
my  greatest  delight  in  its  exercise.     But  now " 

"  What  now  ?  "  she  asked. 

"I  seem  " — he  said,  and  the  hard,  cold  selfishness  that 
underlay  all  his  actions,  however  generous  they  may  have 
been  in  appearance,  was  apparent  in  his  words  and  tones, 
— "  I  seem  to  forget  every  thing,  even  my  standing  and 
fame  as  a  lawyer,  in  the  one  fear  that,  although  lost  to 
me,  you  will  yet  live  to  give  yourself  to  another." 

"  If  you  fear  that  I  shall  ever  be  so  weak  as  to  give  my- 
self to  Craik  Mansell,"  was  her  steady  reply,  "  you  have 
only  to  recall  the  promise  I  made  you  when  you  under- 
took his  case." 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "but  that  was  when  you  yourself  be- 
lieved him  guilty." 

"  I  know,"  she  returned  ;  "  but  if  he  were  not  good 
enough  for  me  then,  I  am  not  good  enough  for  him  now. 
Do  you  forget  that  I  am  blotted  with  a  stain  that  can 
never  be  effaced  ?  When  I  stood  up  in  court  to-day  and 
denounced  myself  as  guilty  of  crime,  I  signed  away  all  my 
chances  of  future  happiness." 

There  was  a  pause  ;  Mr.  Orcutt  seemed  to  be  thinking. 
From  the  position    occupied   by  the  two  detectives  his 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  501 

shadow  could  be  seen  oscillating  to  and  fro  on  the  lawn, 
then,  amid  the  hush  of  night — a  deathly  hush — undis- 
turbed, as  Mr.  Byrd  afterward  remarked,  by  so  much  as 
the  cracking  of  a  twig,  his  voice  rose  quiet,  yet  vaguely 
sinister,  in  the  words  : 

"You  have  conquered.  If  any  man  suffers  for  this 
crime  it  shall  not  be  Craik  Mansell,  but " 

The  sentence  was  never  finished.  Before  the  words 
could  leave  his  mouth  a  sudden  strange  and  splitting 
sound  was  heard  above  their  heads,  then  a  terrifying  rush 
took  place,  and  a  great  limb  lay  upon  the  walk  where  but 
a  moment  before  the  beautiful  form  of  Imogene  Dare 
lifted  itself  by  the  side  of  the  eminent  lawyer. 

When  a  full  sense  of  the  terrible  nature  of  the  calamity 
which  had  just  occurred  swept  across  the  minds  of  the 
benumbed  detectives,  Mr.  Byrd,  recalling  the  words  and 
attitude  of  Imogene  in  face  of  a  similar,  if  less  fatal,  ca- 
tastrophe at  the  hut,  exclaimed  under  his  breath  : 

"  It  is  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  !  Imogene  Dare  must 
have  been  more  guilty  than  we  believed." 

But  when,  after  a  superhuman  exertion  of  strength, 
and  the  assistance  of  many  hands,  the  limb  was  at  length ~ 
raised,  it  was  found  that,  although  both  had  been  pros- 
trated by  its  weight,  only  one  remained  stretched  and 
senseless  upon  the  ground,  and  that  was  not  Imogene 
Dare,  but  the  great  lawyer,  Mr.  Orcutt. 


502  HAND   AND    RliNG. 


XXXVIII. 

UNEXPECTED    WORDS. 

It  will  huve  blood  :  they  say,  blood  will  have  blood. 
Stones  have  been  known  to  move,  and  trees  to  speak ; 
Augurs  and  understood  relations  have. 
By  magot-pies  and  choughs  and  rooks,  brought  forth 
The  secret'st  man  of  blood. 

*  ♦  *  *  * 

Foul  whisperings  are  abroad  ;  unnatural  deeds 
Do  breed  unnatural  troubles  ;  infected  minds 
To  their  deaf  pillows  will  discharge  their  secrets.       —Macbeth. 

MR.  ORCUTTdead?" 
"  Dying,  sir." 

"  How,  when,  where  ?  " 

"  In  his  own  house,  sir.  He  has  been  struck  down  by 
a  falling  limb." 

The  District  Attorney,  who  had  been  roused  from 
his  bed  to  hear  these  evil  tidings,  looked  at  the  per- 
turbed face  of  the  messenger  before  him — who  was  none 
other  than  Mr.  Byrd — and  with  difficulty  restrained  his 
emotion. 

"  I  sympathize  with  your  horror  and  surprise,"  ex- 
claimed the  detective,  respectfully.  Then,  with  a 
strange  mixture  of  embarrassment  and  agitation,  added  : 
"  It  is  considered  absolutely  necessary  that  you  come 
to  the  house.  He  may  yet  speak — and — and— you  will 
find  Miss  Dare  there,"  he  concluded,  with  a  peculiarly 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  5O3 

hesitating   glance   and   a    rapid    movement   toward   the 

door, 

Mr.    Ferris,    who,    as   we    know,    cherished    a    strong 

feeling  of  friendship  for  Mr.  Orcutt,  stared  uneasily  at 

the  departing  form  of  the  detective. 

"  What    do   you    say  ?  "    he    repeated.       "  Miss    Dare 

there,  in  Mr.  Orcutt's  house  ? " 

The  short  "Yes,"  and   the   celerity  with   which   Mr, 

Byrd  vanished,  gave  him  the  appearance  of  one  anxious 

to  escape  further  inquiries. 

Astonished,  as  well  as  greatly  distressed,  the  District 

Attorney  made  speedy  preparations  for  following   him, 

and  soon  was  in  the  street.  He  found  it  all  alive 
with  eager  citizens,  who,  notwithstanding  the  lateness 
of  the  hour,  were  rushing  hither  and  thither  in  search 
of  particulars  concerning  this  sudden  calamity  ;  and  upon 
reaching  the  house  itself,  found  it  wellnigh  surrounded 
by  an  agitated  throng  of  neighbors  and  friends. 

Simply  pausing  at  the  gate  to  cast  one  glance  at  the 
tree  and  its  fallen  limb,  he  made  his  way  to  the  front 
door.  It  was  immediately  opened.  Dr.  Tredwell,  whose 
face  it  was  a  shock  to  encounter  in  this  place,  stood 
before  him,  and  farther  back  a  group  of  such  favored 
friends  as  had  been  allowed  to  enter  the  house.  Some- 
thing in  the  look  of  the  coroner,  as  he  silently  reached 
forth  his  hand  in  salutation,  added  to  the  mysterious 
impression  which  had  been  made  upon  Mr.  Ferris  by 
the  manner,  if   not  words,  of  Mr.   Byrd.     Feeling   that 


504  HAND   AND    RING. 

he  was  losing  his  self-command,  the  District  Attorney 
grasped  the  hand  that  was  held  out  to  him,  and  huskily 
inquired  if  Mr.  Orcutt  was  still  alive. 

The  coroner,  who  had  been  standing  before  him  with 
a  troubled  brow  and  lowered  eyes,  gravely  bowed,  and 
quietly  leading  the  way,  ushered  him  forward  to  Mr. 
Orcutt's  bedroom  door.  There  he  paused  and  looked  as 
if  he  would  like  to  speak,  but  hastily  changing  his  mind, 
opened  the  door  and  motioned  the  District  Attorney  in. 
As  he  did  so,  he  cast  a  meaning  and  solemn  look  toward 
the  bed,  then  drew  back,  watching  with  evident  anxiety 
what  the  effect  of  the  scene  before  him  would  have  upon 
this  new  witness. 

A  stupefying  one  it  seemed,  for  Mr.  Ferris,  pausing  in 
his  approach,  looked  at  the  cluster  of  persons  about  the 
bed,  and  then  drew  his  hand  across  his  eyes  like  a  man 
in  a  maze.  Suddenly  he  turned  upon  Dr.  Tredwell  with 
the  same  strange  look  he  had  himself  seen  in  the  eyes  of 
Byrd,  and  said,  almost  as  if  the  words  were  forced  from 
his  lips  : 

"  This  is  no  new  sight  to  us,  doctor  ;  we  have  been 
spectators  of  a  scene  like  this  before." 

That  was  it.  As  nearly  as  the  alteration  in  circum- 
stances and  surroundings  would  allow,  the  spectacle 
before  him  was  the  same  as  that  which  he  had  encoun- 
tered months  before  in  a  small  cottage  at  the  other  end  of 
the  town.  On  the  bed  a  pallid,  senseless,  but  slowly 
breathing  form,  whose  features,  stamped  with  the  approach 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  $0$ 

of  death,  stared  at  them  with  marble-like  rigidity  from  be- 
neath the  heavy  bandages  which  proclaimed  the  injury  to 
be  one  to  the  head.  At  his  side  the  doctor — the  same 
one  who  had  been  called  in  to  attend  Mrs.  Clemmens— 
wearing,  as  he  did  then,  a  look  of  sombre  anticipation 
which  Mr.  Ferris  expected  every  instant  to  see  culminate 
in  the  solemn  gesture  which  he  had  used  at  the  widow's 
bedside  before  she  spoke.  Even  the  group  of  women 
who  clustered  about  the  foot  of  the  couch  wore  much  the 
same  expression  as  those  who  waited  for  movement  on 
the  part  of  Mrs.  Clemmens  ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
sight  of  Imogene  Dare  sitting  immovable  and  watchful 
on  the  farther  side  of  the  bed,  he  might  almost  have 
imagined  he  was  transported  back  to  the  old  scene,  and 
that  all  this  new  horror  under  which  he  was  laboring  was 
a  dream  from  which  he  would  speedily  be  awakened. 

But  Imogene's  face,  her  look,  her  air  of  patient  waiting, 
were  not  to  be  mistaken.  Attention  once  really  at- 
tracted to  her,  it  was  not  possible  for  it  to  wander 
elsewhere.  Even  the  face  of  the  dying  man  and  the 
countenance  of  the  watchful  physician  paled  in  in- 
terest before  that  fixed  look  which,  never  wavering, 
never  altering,  studied  the  marble  visage  before  her,  for 
the  first  faint  signs  of  reawakening  consciousness.  Even 
his  sister,  who,  if  weak  of  mind,  was  most  certainly  of  a 
loving  disposition,  seemed  to  feel  the  force  of  the  tie  that 
bound  Imogene  to  that  pillow  ;  and,  though  she  hovered 
nearer   and   nearer   the    beloved    form   as   the   weariful 


506  HAND  AND   RING. 

moments  sped  by,  did  not  presume  to  interpose  her  grief 
or  her  assistance  between  the  burning  eye  of  Imogene 
and  the  immovable  form  of  her  stricken  brother. 

The  hush  that  lay  upon  the  room  was  unbroken  save 
by  the  agitated  breaths  of  all  present, 

"  Is  there  no  hope  ? "  whispered  Mr.  Ferris  to  Dr. 
Tredwell,  as,  seeing  no  immediate  prospect  of  change, 
they  sought  for  seats  at  the  other  side  of  the  room. 

"  No  ;  the  wound  is  strangely  like  that  which  Mrs. 
Clemmens  received.  He  will  rouse,  probably,  but  he  will 
not  live.  Our  only  comfort  is  that  in  this  case  it  is  not  a 
murder." 

The  District  Attorney  made  a  gesture  in  the  direction 
of  Imogene. 

"  How  came  she  to  be  here  ? "  he  asked. 

Dr.  Tredwell  rose  and  drew  him  from  the  room. 

"  It  needs  some  explanation,"  he  said  ;  and  began  to 
relate  to  him  how  Mr.  Orcutt  was  escorting  Miss  Dare  to 
the  gate  when  the  bough  fell  which  seemed  likely  to  rob 
him  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Ferris,  through  whose  mind  those  old  words  of  the 
widow  were  running  in  a  way  that  could  only  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  memories  which  the  scene  within  had 
awakened — "  May  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  light  upon 
the  head  of  him  who  has  brought  me  to  this  pass  !  May 
the  fate  that  has  come  upon  me  be  visited  upon  him, 
measure  for  measure,  blow  for  blow,  death  for  death  !  " — 
turned  with  impressive  gravity  and  asked  if  Miss  Dare 
had  not  been  hurt. 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  $0/ 

But  Dr.  Tredwell  shook  his  head. 

"  She  is  not  even  bruised,"  said  he. 

"  And  yet  was  on  his  arm  ? " 

"  Possibly,  though  I  very  much  doubt  it." 

"  She  was  standing  at  his  side,"  uttered  the  quiet  voice 
of  Mr,  Byrd  in  their  ear  ;  "and  disappeared  when  he  did, 
under  the  falling  branch.  She  must  have  been  bruised, 
though  she  says  not.  I  do  not  think  she  is  in  a  condition 
to  feel  her  injuries." 

"  You  were  present,  then,"  observed  Mr.  Ferris,  with  a 
meaning  glance  at  the  detective. 

"  I  was  present,"  he  returned,  with  a  look  the  District 
Attorney  did  not  find  it  difficult  to  understand. 

"Is  there  any  thing  you  ought  to  tell  me?"  Mr.  Ferris 
inquired,  when  a  moment  or  so  later  the  coroner  had 
been  drawn  away  by  a  friend. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  said  Byrd.  "  Of  the  conversation 
that  passed  between  Miss  Dare  and  Mr.  Orcutt,  but  a 
short  portion  came  to  our  ears.  It  is  her  manner,  her 
actions,  that  have  astonished  us,  and  made  us  anxious  to 
have  you  upon  the  spot."  And  he  told  with  what  an  ex- 
pression of  fear  she  had  fled  from  her  interview  with  Mr. 
Orcutt  in  the  library,  and  then  gave,  as  nearly  as  he 
could,  an  account  of  what  had  passed  between  them  be- 
fore the  falling  of  the  fatal  limb.  Finally  he  said  : 
"Hickory  and  I  expected  to  find  her  lying  crushed  and 
bleeding  beneath,  but  instead  of  that,  no  sooner  was  the 
bough  lifted  than  she  sprang  to  her  knees,  and  seeing 


508  HAND   AND    RING. 

Mr,  Orcutt  lying  before  her  insensible,  bent  over  him 
with  that  same  expression  of  breathless  awe  and  expecta- 
tion which  you  see  in  her  now.  It  looks  as  if  she  were 
waiting  for  him  to  rouse  and  finish  the  sentence  that  was 
cut  short  by  this  catastrophe." 

"  And  what  was  that  sentence  ?  " 

"  As  near  as  I  can  recollect,  it  was  this  :  '  If  any  man 
suffers  for  this  crime  it  shall  not  be  Craik  Mansell,  but 
'     He  did  not  have  time  to  say  whom." 

"My  poor  friend  !  "  ejaculated  Mr.  Ferris,  "cut  down 
in  the  exercise  of  his  duties  !  It  is  a  mysterious  provi- 
dence— a  very  mysterious  providence  !  "  And  crossing 
again  to  the  sick-room,  he  went  sadly  in. 

He  found  the  aspect  unchanged.  On  the  pillow  the 
same  white,  immovable  face  ;  at  the  bedside  the  same' 
constant  and  expectant  watchers.  Imogene  especially 
seemed  scarcely  to  have  made  a  move  in  all  the  time  of 
his  absence.  Like  a  marble  image  watching  over  a  form 
of  clay  she  sat  silent,  breathless,  intent — a  sight  to  draw 
all  eyes  and  satisfy  none  ;  for  her  look  was  not  one  of 
grief,  nor  of  awe,  nor  of  hope,  yet  it  had  that  within  it 
which  made  her  presence  there  seem  a  matter  of  right 
even  to  those  who  did  not  know  the  exact  character  of 
the  bond  which  united  her  to  the  unhappy  sufferer. 

Mr.  Ferris,  who  had  been  only  too  ready  to  accept  Mr. 
Byrd's  explanation  of  her  conduct,  allowed  himself  to 
gaze  at  her  unhindered. 

Overwhelmed,  as  he  was,  by  the  calamity  which  prom- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  5O9 

ised  to  rob  the  Bar  of  one  of  its  most  distinguished 
advocates,  and  himself  of  a  long-tried  friend,  he  could 
not  but  feel  the  throb  of  those  deep  interests  which,  in 
the  estimation  of  this  woman  at  least,  hung  upon  a  word 
which  those  dying  lips  might  utter.  And  swayed  by  this 
feeling,  he  unconsciously  became  a  third  watcher,  though 
for  what,  and  in  hope  of  what,  he  could  scarcely  have 
told,  so  much  was  he  benumbed  by  the  suddenness  of 
this  great  catastrophe,  and  the  extraordinary  circum- 
stances by  which  it  was  surrounded. 

And  so  one  o'clock  came  and  passed. 

It  was  not  the  last  time  the  clock  struck  before  a 
change  came.  The  hour  of  two  went  by,  then  that  of 
three,  and  still,  to  the  casual  eye,  all  remained  the  same. 
But  ere  the  stroke  of  four  was  heard,  Mr,  Ferris,  who 
had  relaxed  his  survey  of  Imogene  to  bestow  a  fuller  at- 
tention upon  his  friend,  felt  an  indefinable  sensation  of 
dismay  assail  him,  and  rising  to  his  feet,  drew  a  step  or 
so  nearer  the  bed,  and  looked  at  its  silent  occupant  with 
the  air  of  a  man  who  would  fain  shut  his  eyes  to  the 
meaning  of  what  he  sees  before  him.  At  the  same 
moment  Mr.  Byrd,  who  had  just  come  in,  found  himself 
attracted  by  the  subtle  difference  he  observed  in  the  ex- 
pression of  Miss  Dare.  The  expectancy  in  her  look  was 
gone,  and  its  entire  expression  was  that  of  awe.  Advan- 
cing to  the  side  of  Mr.  Ferris,  he  glanced  down  at  the 
dying  lawyer.  He  at  once  saw  what  it  was  that  had  so 
attracted   and  moved  the  District  Attorney.     A  change 


5IO  HAND   AND   RING. 

had  come  over  Mr.  Orcutt's  face.  Though  rigid  still,  and 
unrelieved  by  any  signs  of  returning  consciousness,  it  was 
no  longer  that  of  the  man  they  knew,  but  a  strange  face, 
owning  the  same  features,  but  distinguished  now  by  a 
look  sinister  as  it  was  unaccustomed,  filling  the  breasts  of 
those  who  saw  it  with  dismay,  and  making  any  contem- 
plation of  his  countenance  more  than  painful  to  those 
who  loved  him.  Nor  did  it  decrease  as  they  watched 
him.  Like  that  charmed  writing  which  appears  on  a 
blank  paper  when'it  is  subjected  to  the  heat,  the  subtle, 
unmistakable  lines  came  out,  moment  by  moment,  on  the 
mask  of  his  unconscious  face,  till  even  Imogene  trembled, 
and  turned  an  appealing  glance  upon  Mr.  Ferris,  as  if  to 
bid  him  note  this  involuntary  evidence  of  nature  against 
the  purity  and  good  intentions  of  the  man  who  had 
always  stood  so  high  in  the  world's  regard.  Then,  satis- 
fied, perhaps,  with  the  expression  she  encountered  on  the 
face  of  the  District  Attorney,  she  looked  back  ;  and  the 
heavy  minutes  went  on,  only  more  drearily,  and  perhaps 
more  fearfully,  than  before. 

Suddenly — was  it  at  a  gesture  of  the  physician,  or  a 
look  from  Imogene  ? — a  thrill  of  expectation  passed 
through  the  room,  and  Dr.  Tredwell,  Mr.  Ferris,  and  a 
certain  other  gentleman  who  had  but  just  entered  at  a 
remote  corner  of  the  apartment,  came  hurriedly  forward 
and  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  bed.  At  the  same  instant 
Imogene  rose,  and  motioning  them  a  trifle  aside,  with  an 
air  of  mingled  entreaty  and  command,  bent  slowly  down 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  5U 

toward  the  injured  man.  A  look  of  recognition  answered 
her  from  the  face  upon  the  pillow,  but  she  did  not  wait  to 
meet  it,  nor  pause  for  the  word  that  evidently  trembled 
on  his  momentarily  conscious  lip.  Shutting  out  with  her 
form  the  group  of  anxious  watchers  behind  her,  she  threw 
all  her  soul  into  the  regard  with  which  she  held  him 
enchained  ;  then  slowly,  solemnly,  but  with  unyielding 
determination,  uttered  these  words,  which  no  one  there 
could  know  were  but  a  repetition  of  a  question  made  a 
few  eventful  hours  ago  :  "  If  Craik  Mansell  is  not  the  man 
who  killed  Mrs.  Clemmens,  do  you,  Mr.  Orcutt,  tell  us 
who  is  !  "  and,  pausing,  remained  with  her  gaze  fixed 
demandingly  on  that  of  the  lawyer,  undeterred  by  the 
smothered  exclamations  of  those  who  witnessed  this 
scene  and  missed  its  clue  or  found  it  only  in  the  supposi- 
tion that  this  last  great  shock  had  unsettled  her  mind. 

The  panting  sufferer  just  trembling  on  the  verge  of  life 
thrilled  all  down  his  once  alert  and  nervous  frame,  then 
searching  her  face  for  one  sign  of  relenting,  unclosed  his 
rigid  lips  and  said,  with  emphasis  : 

"  Has  not  Fate  spoken  ?  " 

Instantly  Imogene  sprang  erect,  and,  amid  the  stifled 
shrieks  of  the  women  and  the  muttered  exclamations  of 
the  men,  pointed  at  the  recumbent  figure  before  them, 
saying  : 

"  You  hear  !  Tremont  Orcutt  declares  upon  his  death- 
bed that  it  is  the  voice  of  Heaven  which  has  spoken  in 
this  dreadful    calamity.     You   who   were   present   when 


512  HAND   AND   RING. 

Mrs.  Clemmens  breathed  her  imprecations  on  the  head  of 
her  murderer,  must  know  what  that  means." 

Mr.  Ferris,  who  of  all  present,  perhaps,  possessed  the 
greatest  regard  for  the  lawyer,  gave  an  ejaculation  of  dis- 
may at  this,  and  bounding  forward,  lifted  her  away  from 
the  bedside  he  believed  her  to  have  basely  desecrated. 

"  Madwoman,"  he  cried,  "where  will  your  ravings  end  ? 
He  will  tell  no  such  tale  to  me." 

But  when  he  bent  above  the  lawyer  with  the  question 
forced  from  him  by  Miss  Dare's  words,  he  found  him 
already  lapsed  into  that  strange  insensibility  which  was 
every  moment  showing  itself  more  and  more  to  be  the 
precursor  of  death. 

The  sight  seemed  to  rob  Mr.  Ferris  of  his  last  grain  of 
self-command.  Rising,  he  confronted  the  dazed  faces  of 
those  about  him  with  a  severe  look. 

"  This  charge,"  said  he,  "  is  akin  to  that  which  Miss 
Dare  made  against  herself  in  the  court  yesterday  morn- 
ing. When  a  woman  has  become  crazed  she  no  longer 
knows  what  she  says." 

But  Imogene,  strong  in  the  belief  that  the  hand  of 
Heaven  had  pointed  out  the  culprit  for  whom  they  had  so 
long  been  searching,  shook  her  head  in  quiet  denial,  and 
simply  saying,  "  None  of  you  know  this  man  as  I  do," 
moved  quietly  aside  to  a  dim  corner,  where  she  sat  down 
in  calm  expectation  of  another  awakening  on  the  part  of 
the  dying  lawyer. 

It  came  soon — came  before  Mr.  Ferris  had  recovered 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  513 

himself,  or  Dr.  Tredvvell  had  had  a  chance  to  give  any 
utterance  to  the  emotions  which  this  scene  was  calculated 
to  awaken. 

Rousing  as  the  widow  had  done,  but  seeming  to  see  no 
one,  not  even  the  physician  who  bent  close  at  his  side, 
Mr.  Orcutt  lifted  his  voice  again,  this  time  in  the  old 
stentorian  tones  which  he  used  in  court,  and  clearly, 
firmly  exclaimed  : 

"  Blood  will  have  blood  !  '  Then  in  lower  and  more 
familiar  accents,  cried  :  "  Ah,  Imogene,  Imogene,  it  was 
all  for  you  !  "  And  with  her  name  on  his  lips,  the  great 
lawyer  closed  his  eyes  again,  and  sank  for  the  last  time 
into  a  state  of  insensibility. 

Imogene  at  once  rose. 

**  I  must  go,"  she  murmured  ;  **  my  duty  in  this  place  is 
done."     And  she  attempted  to  cross  the  floor. 

But  the  purpose  which  had  sustained  her  being  at  an 
end,  she  felt  the  full  weight  of  her  misery,  and  looking  in- 
the  faces  about  her,  and  seeing  nothing  there  but  repro- 
bation, she  tottered  and  would  have  fallen  had  not  a 
certain  portly  gentleman  who  stood  near  by  put  forth  his 
arm  to  sustain  her.  Accepting  the  support  with  gratitude, 
but  scarcely  pausing  to  Miote  from  what  source  it  came, 
she  turned  for  an  instant  to  Mr.  Ferris. 

"  I  realize,"  said  she,  "  with  what  surprise  you  must 
have  heard  the  revelation  which  has  just  come  from  Mr. 
Orcutt's  lips.  So  unexpected  is  it  that  you  cannot  yet 
believe  it,  but  the  time  will  come  when,  of  all  the  words 


514  HAND   AND   RING 

I  have  spoken,  these  alone  will  be  found  worthy  your  full 
credit:  that  not  Craik  Mansell,  not  Gouverneur  Hildreth, 
not  even  unhappy  Imogene  Dare  herself,  could  tell  you 
so  much  of  the  real  cause  and  manner  of  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
death  as  this  man  who  lies  stricken  here  a  victim  of 
Divine  justice." 

And  merely  stopping  to  cast  one  final  look  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  bed,  she  stumbled  from  the  room.  A  few 
minutes  later  and  she  reached  the  front  door  ;  but  only 
to  fall  against  the  lintel  with  the  moan  : 

"  My  words  are  true,  but  who  will  ever  believe  them  ?" 

"  Pardon  me,"  exclaimed  a  bland  and  fatherly  voice 
over  her  shoulder,  "  I  am  a  man  who  can  believe  in  any 
thing.  Put  your  confidence  in  me.  Miss  Dare,  and  we 
will  see — we  will  see." 

Startled  by  her  surprise  into  new  life,  she  gave  one 
glance  at  the  gentleman  who  had  followed  her  to  the 
door.  It  was  the  same  who  had  offered  her  his  arm,  and 
whom  she  supposed  to  have  remained  behind  her  in  Mr. 
Orcutt's  room.  She  saw  before  her  a  large  comfortable- 
looking  personage  of  middle  age,  of  no  great  pretensions 
to  elegance  or  culture,  but  bearing  that  within  his  face 
which  oddly  enough  baffled  her-  understanding  while  it 
encouraged  her  trust.  This  was  the  more  peculiar  in 
that  he  was  not  looking  at  her,  but  stood  with  his  eyes 
fixed  on  the  fading  light  of  the  hall-lamp,  which  he  sur- 
veyed with  an  expression  of  concern  that  almost  amounted 
to  pity. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  515 

"  Sir,  who  are  you  ? "  she  tremblingly  asked. 

Dropping  his  eyes  from  the  lamp,  he  riveted  them  upon 
the  veil  she  held  tightly  clasped  in  her  right  hand. 

"  If  you  will  allow  me  the  liberty  of  whispering  in  your 
ear,  I  will  soon  tell  you,"  said  he. 

She  bent  her  weary  head  downward  ;  he  at  once  leaned 
toward  her  and  murmured  a  half-dozen  words  that  made 
her  instantly  start  erect  with  new  light  in  her  eyes. 

"  And  you  will  help  me  ?  "  she  cried. 

"  What  else  am  I  here  for  ?  "  he  answered. 

And  turning  toward  a  quiet  figure  which  she  now  saw 
for  the  first  time  standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  small 
room  near  by,  he  said  with  the  calmness  of  a  master  : 

"  Hickory,  see  that  no  one  enters  or  leaves  the  sick- 
room till  I  return."  And  offering  Imogene  his  arm,  he 
conducted  her  into  the  library,  the  door  of  which  he 
shut  to  behind  them. 


5l6  HAND   AND   RING. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

MR.  GRYCE. 

What  you  have  spoke,  it  may  be  so,  perchance. 

This  tyrant,  whose  sole  name  blisters  our  tongues, 

Was  once  thought  honest.  —Macbeth. 

AN  hour  later,  as  Mr.  Ferris  was  leaving  the  house  in 
company  with  Dr.  Tredwell,  he  felt  himself 
stopped  by  a  slight  touch  on  his  arm.  Turning  about  he 
saw  Hickory. 

"Beg  pardon,  sirs,"  said  the  detective,  with  a  short 
bow,  "  but  there  's  a  gentleman  in  the  library  who  would 
like  to  see  you  before  you  go." 

They  at  once  turned  to  the  room  indicated.  But  at 
sight  of  its  well-known  features — its  huge  cases  of  books, 
its  large  centre-table  profusely  littered  with  papers,  the 
burnt-out  grate,  the  empty  arm-chair — they  paused,  and 
it  was  with  difficulty  they  could  recover  themselves  suffi- 
ciently to  enter.  When  they  did,  their  first  glance  was 
toward  the  gentleman  they  saw  standing  in  a  distant 
window,  apparently  perusing  a  book. 

"  Who  is  it  ? "  inquired  Mr,  Ferris  of  his  companion. 

"  I  cannot  imagine,"  returned  the  other. 

Hearing  voices,  the  gentleman  advanced. 

"  Ah,"  said  he,  "  allow  me  to  introduce  myself.  I  am 
Mr.  Gryce,  of  the  New  York  Detective  Service." 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  517 

"  Mr,  Gryce  !  "  repeated  the  District  Attorney,  in  as- 
tonishment. 

The  famous  detective  bowed.  "  I  have  come,"  said 
he,  "  upon  a  summons  received  by  me  in  Utica  not  six 
hours  ago.  It  was  sent  by  a  subordinate  of  mine  inter- 
ested in  the  trial  now  going  on  before  the  court.  Horace 
Byrd  is  his  name.  I  hope  he  is  well  liked  here  and  has 
your  confidence." 

"  Mr.  Byrd  is  well  enough  liked,"  rejoined  Mr.  Ferris, 
"  but  I  gave  him  no  orders  to  send  for  you.  At  what 
hour  was  the  telegram  dated  ?  " 

"  At  half-past  eleven  ;  immediately  after  the   accident 
to  Mr.  Orcutt." 
1  see. 

"  He  probably  felt  himself  inadequate  to  meet  this  new 
emergency.  He  is  a  young  man,  and  the  affair  is  cer- 
tainly a  complicated  one." 

The  District  Attorney,  who  had  been  studying  the 
countenance  of  the  able  detective  before  him,  bowed 
courteously. 

"  I  am  not  displeased  to  see  you,"  said  he.  "  If  you 
have  been  in  the  room  above " 

The  other  gravely  bowed. 

"  You  know  probably  of  the  outrageous  accusation 
which  has  just  been  made  against  our  best  lawyer  and 
most-esteemed  citizen.  It  is  but  one  of  many  which  this 
same  woman  has  made  ;  and  while  it  is  to  be  regarded  as 
the  ravings  of  lunacy,  still  your  character  and  ability  may 


5l8  HAND   AND    RING. 

weigh  much  in  lifting  the  opprobrium  which  any  such 
accusation,  however  unfounded,  is  calculated  to  throw 
around  the  memory  of  my  dying  friend." 

"  Sir,"  returned  Mr.  Gryce,  shifting  his  gaze  uneasily 
from  one  small  object  to  another  in  that  dismal  room,  till 
all  and  every  article  it  contained  seemed  to  partake  of  his 
mysterious  confidence,  "  this  is  a  world  of  disappoint- 
ment and  deceit.  Intellects  we  admired,  hearts  in  which 
we  trusted,  turn  out  frequently  to  be  the  abodes  of  false- 
hood and  violence.     It  is  dreadful,  but  it  is  true." 

Mr.  Ferris,  struck  aghast,  looked  at  the  detective  with 
severe  disapprobation. 

"  Is  it  possible,"  he  asked,  "  that  you  have  allowed 
yourself  to  give  any  credence  to  the  delirious  utterances 
of  a  man  suffering  from  a  wound  on  the  head,  or  to  the 
frantic  words  of  a  woman  who  has  already  abused  the 
ears  of  the  court  by  a  deliberate  perjury  ?  "  While  Dr. 
Tredwell,  equally  indignant  and  even  more  impatient, 
rapped  with  his  knuckles  on  the  table  by  which  he  stood, 
and  cried  : 

"  Pooh,  pooh,  the  man  cannot  be  such  a  fool  !  " 

A  solemn  smile  crossed  the  features  of  the  detective. 

"  Many  persons  have  listened  to  the  aspersion  you  de- 
nounce. Active  measures  will  be  needed  to  prevent  its 
going  farther." 

"  I  have  commanded  silence,"  said  Dr.  Tredwell.  "Re- 
spect for  Mr.  Orcutt  will  cause  my  wishes  to  be  obeyed." 

"  Does  Mr.  Orcutt  enjoy  the  universal  respect  of  the 
town  ?  " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  519 

"  He  does,"  was  the  stern  reply. 

"  It  behooves  us,  then,"  said  Mr.  Gryce,  "  to  clear  his 
memory  from  every  doubt  by  a  strict  inquiry  into  his  re- 
lations with  the  murdered  woman." 

"  They  are  known,"  returned  Mr.  Ferris,  with  grim  re- 
serve. "  They  were  such  as  any  man  might  hold  with 
the  woman  at  whose  house  he  finds  it  convenient  to  take 
his  daily  dinner.  She  was  to  him  the  provider  of  a  good 
meal." 

Mr.  Gryce's  eye  travelled  slowly  toward  Mr.  Ferris' 
shirt  stud. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  do  you  forget  that  Mr.  Orcutt 
was  on  the  scene  of  murder  some  minutes  before  the  rest 
of  you  arrived  ?  Let  the  attention  of  people  once  be  di- 
rected toward  him  as  a  suspicious  party,  and  they  will  be 
likely  to  remember  this  fact." 

Astounded,  both  men  drew  back. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  remark  ? "  they  asked. 

"  I  mean,"  said  Mr.  Gryce,  "  that  Mr.  Orcutt's  visit  to 
Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  on  the  morning  of  the  murder  will 
be  apt  to  be  recalled  by  persons  of  a  suspicious  tendency 
as  having  given  him  an  opportunity  to  commit  the  crime." 

"  People  are  not  such  fools,"  cried  Dr.  Tredwell  ;  while 
Mr.  Ferris,  in  a  tone  of  mingled  incredulity  and  anger, 
exclaimed  : 

"And  do  you,  a  reputable  detective,  and,  as  I  have 
been  told,  a  man  of  excellent  judgment,  presume  to  say 
that  there  could  be  found  any  one  in  this  town,  or  even 


520  HAND   AND   RING. 

in  this  country,  who  could  let  his  suspicions  carry  him 
so  far  as  to  hint  that  Mr.  Orcutt  struck  this  woman 
with  his  own  hand  in  the  minute  or  two  that  elapsed 
between  his  going  into  her  house  and  his  coming  out 
again  with  tidings  of  her  death  ? " 

"  Those  who  remember  that  he  had  been  a  participa- 
tor in  the  lengthy  discussion  which  had  just  taken 
place  on  the  court-house  steps  as  to  how  a  man  might 
commit  a  crime  without  laying  himself  open  to  the  risk 
of  detection,  might — yes,  sir." 

Mr.  Ferris  and  the  coroner,  who,  whatever  their  doubts 
or  fears,  had  never  for  an  instant  seriously  believed  the 
dying  words  of  Mr.  Orcutt  to  be  those  of  confession, 
gazed  in  consternation  at  the  detective,  and  finally  in- 
quired : 

"  Do  you  realize  what  you  are  saying  ?  " 

Mr.  Gryce  drew  a  deep  breath,  and  shifted  his  gaze  to 
the  next  stud  in  Mr.  Ferris'  shirt-front, 

"  I  have  never  been  accused  of  speaking  lightly,"  he 
remarked.  Then,  with  quiet  insistence,  asked  :  "  Where 
was  Mrs.  Clemmens  believed  to  get  the  money  she  lived 
on  ?  " 

"  It  is  not  known,"  rejoined  the  District  Attorney. 

"  Yet  she  left  a  nice  little  sum  behind  her  ?  " 

"Five  thousand  dollars,"  declared  the  coroner. 

"  Strange  that,  in  a  town  like  this,  no  one  should  know 
where  it  came  from  ?  "  suggested  the  detective. 

The  two  gentlemen  were  silent. 


THE   SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  521 

"  It  was  a  good  deal  to  come  from  Mr.  Orcutt  in  pay- 
ment of  a  single  meal  a  day  !  "  continued  Mr.  Gryce. 

"  No  one  has  ever  supposed  it  did  come  from  Mr. 
Orcutt,"  remarked  Mr.  Ferris,  with  some  severity. 

"But  does  anyone  know  it  did  not?"  ventured  the 
detective. 

Dr.  Tredwell  and  the  District  Attorney  looked  at  each 
other,  but  did  not  reply. 

"  Gentlemen,"  pursued  Mr.  Gryce,  after  a  moment  of 
quiet  waiting,  "  this  is  without  exception  the  most 
serious  moment  of  my  life.  Never  in  the  course  of  my 
experience — and  that  includes  much — have  I  been 
placed  in  a  more  trying  position  than  now.  To  allow 
one's  self  to  doubt,  much  less  to  question,  the  integrity 
of  so  eminent  a  man,  seems  to  me  only  less  dreadful 
than  it  does  to  you  ;  yet,  for  all  that,  were  I  his  friend, 
as  I  certainly  am  his  admirer,  I  would  say  :  '  Sift  this 
matter  to  the  bottom  ;  let  us  know  if  this  great  lawyer 
has  any  more  in  favor  of  his  innocence  than  the 
other  gentlemen  who  have  been  publicly  accused  of  thi? 
crime.'  " 

"  But,"  protested  Dr.  Tredwell,  seeing  that  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  was  too  much  moved  to  speak,  "  you 
forget  the  evidences  which  underlay  the  accusation  of 
these  other  gentlemen  ;  also  that  of  all  the  persons  who, 
from  the  day  the  widow  was  struck  till  now,  have  been 
in  any  way  associated  with  suspicion,  Mr.  Orcutt 
is  the  only  one  who  could  have  had  no  earthly  motive 


522  HAND   AND   RING. 

for  injuring  this  humble  woman,  even  if  he  were  all  he 
would  have  to  be  to  first  perform  such  a  brutal  deed 
and  then  carry  out  his  hypocrisy  to  the  point  of  using 
his  skill  as  a  criminal  lawyer  to  defend  another  man 
falsely  accused  of  the  crime." 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  said  the  detective,  **  but  I 
forget  nothing.  I  only  bring  to  the  consideration  of  this 
subject  a  totally  unprejudiced  mind  and  an  experience 
which  has  taught  me  never  to  omit  testing  the  truth  of 
a  charge  because  it  seems  at  first  blush  false,  prepos- 
terous, and  without  visible  foundation.  If  you  will  re- 
call the  conversation  to  which  I  have  just  alluded  as 
having  been  held  on  the  court-house  steps  on  the  morn- 
ing Mrs.  Clemmens  was  murdered,  you  will  remember 
that  it  was  the  intellectual  crime  that  was  discussed — 
the  crime  of  an  intelligent  man,  safe  in  the  knowledge 
that  his  motive  for  doing  such  a  deed  was  a  secret  to 
the  world." 

*'  My  God  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Ferris,  under  his  breath, 
"  the  man  seems  to  be  in  earnest !  " 

*'  Gentlemen,"  pursued  Mr.  Gryce,  with  more  dignity 
than  he  had  hitherto  seen  fit  to  assume,  '*  it  is  not  my 
usual  practice  to  express  myself  as  openly  as  I  have  done 
here  to-day.  In  all  ordinary  cases  I  consider  it  expedi- 
ent to  reserve  intact  my  suspicions  and  my  doubts  till  I 
have  completed  my  discoveries  and  arranged  my  argu- 
ments so  as  to  bear  out  with  some  show  of  reason  what, 
ever  statement   I  may  feel  obliged  to  make.     But  the 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  523 

extraordinary  features  of  this  affair,  and  the  fact  that 
so  many  were  present  at  the  scene  we  have  just  left,  have 
caused  me  to  change  my  usual  tactics.  Though  far  from 
ready  to  say  that  Mr.  Orcutt's  words  were  those  of  con- 
fession, I  still  see  much  reason  to  doubt  his  innocence, 
and,  feeling  thus,  am  quite  willing  you  should  know  it  in 
time  to  prepare  for  the  worst." 

"  Then  you  propose  making  what  has  occurred  here 
public  ? "  asked  Mr.  Ferris,  with  emotion. 

"  Not  so,"  was  the  detective's  ready  reply.  "  On  the 
contrary,  I  was  about  to  suggest  that  you  did  something 
more  than  lay  a  command  of  silence  upon  those  who 
were  present." 

The  District  Attorney,  who,  as  he  afterward  said,  felt 
as  if  he  were  laboring  under  some  oppressive  nightmare, 
turned  to  the  coroner  and  said  : 

"  Dr.  Tredwell,  what  do  you  advise  me  to  do  ?  Ter- 
rible as  this  shock  has  been,  and  serious  as  is  the  duty  it 
possibly  involves,  I  have  never  allowed  myself  to  shrink 
from  doing  what  was  right  simply  because  it  afforded 
suffering  to  myself  or  indignity  to  my  friends.  Do  you 
think  I  am  called  upon  to  pursue  this  matter  ?  " 

The  coroner,  troubled,  anxious,  and  nearly  as^much 
overwhelmed  as  the  District  Attorney,  did  not  immedi- 
ately reply.  Indeed,  the  situation  was  one  to  upset  any 
man  of  whatever  calibre.  Finally  he  turned  to  Mr. 
Gryce. 

"  Mr.  Gryce,"  said  he,  "we  are,  as  you  have  observed, 


524  HAND   AND   RING. 

friends  of  the  dying  man,  and,  being  so,  may  miss  our 
duty  in  our  sympathy.  What  do  you  think  ought  to  be 
done,  in  justice  to  him,  the  prisoner,  and  the  positions 
which  we  both  occupy  ?  " 

"  Well,  sirs,"  rejoined  Mr.  Gryce,  "  it  is  not  usual, 
perhaps,  for  a  man  in  my  position  to  offer  actual  advice 
to  gentlemen  in  yours  ;  but  if  you  wish  to  know  what 
course  I  should  pursue  if  I  were  in  your  places,  I  should 
say  :  First,  require  the  witnesses  still  lingering  around 
the  dying  man  to  promise  that  they  will  not  divulge  what 
was  there  said  till  a  week  has  fully  elapsed  ;  next,  adjourn 
the  case  now  before  the  court  for  the  same  decent  length 
of  time  ;  and,  lastly,  trust  me  and  the  two  men  you 
have  hitherto  employed,  to  find  out  if  there  is  any  thing 
in  Mr.  Orcutt's  past  history  of  a  nature  to  make  you 
tremble  if  the  world  hears  of  the  words  which  escaped 
him  on  his  death-bed.  We  shall  probably  need  but  a 
week." 

"  And  Miss  Dare  ?  " 

"  Has  already  promised  secrecy." 

There  was  nothing  in  all  this  to  alarm  their  fears  ; 
every  thing,  on  the  contrary,  to  allay  them. 

The  coroner  gave  a  nod  of  approval  to  Mr.  Ferris,  and 
both  signified  their  acquiescence  in  the  measures  pro- 
posed. 

Mr.  Gryce  at  once  assumed  his  usual  genial  air. 

"  You  may  trust  me,"  said  he,  "  to  exercise  all  the 
discretion  you  would  yourselves  show  under  the  circum- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  525 

Stances.  I  have  no  wish  to  see  the  name  of  such  a  man 
blasted  by  an  ineffaceable  stain."  And  he  bowed  as  if 
about  to  leave  the  room. 

But  Mr.  Ferris,  who  had  observed  this  movement  with 
an  air  of  some  uneasiness,  suddenly  stepped  forward  and 
stopped  him. 

"  I  wish  to  ask,"  said  he,  "  whether  superstition  has 
had  any  thing  to  do  with  this  readiness  on  your  part  to 
impute  the  worst  meaning  to  the  chance  phrases  which 
have  fallen  from  the  lips  of  our  severely  injured  friend. 
Because  his  end  seems  in  some  regards  to  mirror  that  of 
the  widow,  have  you  allowed  a  remembrance  of  the 
words  she  made  use  of  in  the  face  of  death  to  influence 
your  good  judgment  as  to  the  identity  of  Mr.  Orcutt  with 
her  assassin  ?  " 

The  face  of  Mr.  Gryce  assumed  its  grimmest  aspect. 

"  Do  you  think  this  catastrophe  was  necessary  to  draw 
my  attention  to  Mr.  Orcutt  ?  To  a  man  acquainted  with 
the  extraordinary  coincidence  that  marked  the  discovery 
of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  murder,  the  mystery  must  be  that  Mr. 
Orcutt  has  gone  unsuspected  for  so  long."  And  assum- 
ing an  argumentative  air,  he  asked  : 

"  Were  either  of  you  two  gentlemen  present  at  the  con- 
versation I  have  mentioned  as  taking  place  on  the  court- 
house steps  the  morning  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  murdered  ?" 

"  I  was,"  said  the  District  Attorney. 

"  You  remember,  then,  the  hunchback  who  was  so  free 
with  his  views  ? " 


526  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Most  certainly." 

"  And  know,  perhaps,  who  that  hunchback  was  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  You  will  not  be  surprised,  then,  if  I  recall  to  you  the 
special  incidents  of  that  hour.  A  group  of  lawyers, 
among  them  Mr.  Orcutt,  are  amusing  thumselves  with  an 
off-hand  chat  concerning  criminals  and  the  clumsy  way 
in  which,  as  a  rule,  they  plan  and  execute  their  crimes.  All 
seem  to  agree  that  a  murder  is  usually  followed  by  detec- 
tion, when  suddenly  a  stranger  speaks  and  tells  them  that 
the  true  way  to  make  a  success  of  the  crime  is  to  choose  a 
thoroughfare  for  the  scene  of  tragedy,  and  employ  a 
weapon  that  has  been  picked  up  on  the  spot.  What  hap- 
pens ?  Within  five  minutes  after  this  piece  of  gratui- 
tous information,  or  as  soon  as  Mr.  Orcutt  can  cross  the 
street,  Mrs.  Clemmens  is  found  lying  in  her  blood,  struck 
down  by  a  stick  of  wood  picked  up  from  her  own  hearth- 
stone.    Is  this  chance  ?     If  so,  't  is  a  very  curious  one." 

"I  don't  deny  it,"  said  Doctor  Tredwell. 

"  I  believe  you  never  did  deny  it,"  quickly  retorted  the 
detective.  "  Am  I  not  right  in  saying  that  it  struck  you 
so  forcibly  at  the  time  as  to  lead  you  into  supposing  some 
collusion  between  the  hunchback  and  the  murderer  ?  " 

"It  certainly  did,"  admitted  the  coroner. 

"  Very  well,"  proceeded  Mr.  Gryce.  "  Now  as  there 
could  have  been  no  collusion  between  these  parties,  the 
hunchback  being  no  other  person  than  myself,  what  are 
we  to  think  of  this  murder  ?  That  it  was  a  coincidence, 
or  an  actual  result  of  the  hunchback's  words?" 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE  527 

Dr.  Tredwell  and  Mr.  Ferris  were  both  silent. 

"  Sirs,"  continued  Mr.  Gryce,  feeling,  perhaps,  that 
perfect  openness  was  necessary  in  order  to  win  entire  con- 
fidence, "  I  am  not  given  to  boasting  or  to  a  too-frcf  ex- 
pression of  my  opinion,  but  if  I  had  been  ignorant  of  this 
affair,  and  one  of  my  men  had  come  to  me  and  said  :  '  A 
mysterious  murder  has  just  taken  place,  marked  by  this 
extraordinary  feature,  that  it  is  a  precise  reproduction  of 
a  supposable  case  of  crime  which  has  just  been  discussed 
by  a  group  of  indifferent  persons  in  the  public  street,'  and 
then  had  asked  me  where  to  look  for  the  assassin,  I 
should  have  said:  '  Search  for  that  man  who  heard  the 
discussion  through,  was  among  the  first  to  leave  the 
group,  and  was  the  first  to  show  himself  upon  the  scene 
of  murder.'  To  be  sure,  when  Byrd  did  come  to  me 
with  this  story,  I  was  silent,  for  the  man  who  fulfilled 
these  conditions  was  Mr.  Orcutt." 

"Then,"  said  Mr.  Ferris,  "you  mean  to  say  that  you 
would  have  suspected  Mr.  Orcutt  of  this  crime  long  ago 
if  he  had  not  been  a  man  of  such  position  and  emi- 
nence ? " 

"  Undoubtedly,"  was  Mr.  Gryce's  reply. 

If  the  expression  was  unequivocal,  his  air  was  still  more 
so.  Shocked  and  disturbed,  both  gentlemen  fell  back. 
The  detective  at  once  advanced  and  opened  the  door. 

It  was  time.  Mr.  Byrd  had  been  tapping  upon  it  for 
some  minutes,  and  now  hastily  came  in.  His  face  told 
the  nature  of  his  errand  before  he  spoke. 


528  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged  to   inform   you "   he 

began. 

"  Mr.  Orcutt  is  dead?"  quickly  interposed  Mr.  Ferris. 
The  young  detective  solemnly  bowed. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  529 


CHAPTER  XL. 

IN    THE   PRISON. 

The  jury  passing  on  the  prisoner's  life, 
May  in  the  sworn  twelve  have  a  thief  or  two 
Guiltier  than  him  they  try. 

— Measure  for  Measure. 

Such  welcome  and  unwelcome  things  at  once 

'T  is  hard  to  reconcile.  — Macbeth. 

MR.  MANSELL  sat  in  his  cell,  the  prey  of  gloomy 
and  perturbed  thought.  He  knew  Mr.  Orcutt 
was  dead  ;  'he  had  been  told  of  it  early  in  the  morning  by 
his  jailer,  but  of  the  circumstances  which  attended  that 
death  he  knew  nothing,  save  that  the  lawyer  had  been 
struck  by  a  limb  falling  from  a  tree  in  his  own  garden. 

The  few  moments  during  which  the  court  had  met  for 
the  purpose  of  re-adjournment  had  added  but  little  to  his 
enlightenment.  A  marked  reserve  had  characterized  the 
whole  proceedings  ;  and  though  an  indefinable  instinct  had 
told  him  that  in  some  mysterious  way  his  cause  had  been 
helped  rather  than  injured  by  this  calamity  to  his  counsel, 
he  found  no  one  ready  to  volunteer  those  explanations 
which  his  great  interest  in  the  matter  certainly  demanded. 
The  hour,  therefore,  which  he  spent  in  solitude  upon  his 
return  to  prison  was  one  of  great  anxiety,  and  it  was  quite  a 
welcome  relief  when  the  cell  door  opened  and  the  keeper 
ushered  in  astrangegentleman.    Supposing  it  to  be  the  new 


530  HAND   AND    RING. 

counsel  he  had  chosen  at  haphazard  from  a  list  of  names  that 
had  been  offered  him,  Mr.  Mansell  rose.  But  a  second 
glance  assured  him  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  supposing 
this  person  to  be  a  lawyer,  and  stepping  back  he  awaited 
his  approach  with  mingled  curiosity  and  reserve. 

The  stranger,  who  seemed  to  be  perfectly  at  home  in 
the  narrow  quarters  in  which  he  found  himself,  advanced 
with  a  frank  air. 

"  My  name  is  Gryce,"  said  he,  "  and  I  am  a  detective. 
The  District  Attorney,  who,  as  you  know,  has  been  placed 
in  a  very  embarrassing  situation  by  the  events  of  the  last 
two  days,  has  accepted  my  services  in  connection  with 
those  of  the  two  men  already  employed  by  him,  in  the 
hope  that  my  greater  experience  may  assist  him  in  deter- 
mining which,  of  all  the  persons  who  have  been  accused, 
or  who  have  accused  themselves,  of  murdering  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens,  is  the  actual  perpetrator  of  that  deed.  Do  you  require 
any  further  assurance  of  my  being  in  the  confidence  of  Mr. 
Ferris  than  the  fact  that  I  am  here,  and  in  full  liberty  to 
talk  with  you  ?  " 

"  No,"  returned  the  other,  after  a  short  but  close  study 
of  his  visitor. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  continued  the  detective,  with  a  com- 
fortable air  of  ease,  "  I  will  speak  to  the  point  ;  and  the 
first  thing  I  will  say  is,  that  upon  looking  at  the  evidence 
against  you,  and  hearing  what  I  have  heard  from  various 
sources  since  I  came  to  town,  I  know  you  are  not  the  man 
who  killed  Mrs.  Clemmens.     To  be  sure,  you  have  de- 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  53 1 

dined  to  explain  certain  points,  but  I  think  you  can  ex- 
plain them,  and  if  you  will  only  inform  me " 

"  Pardon  me,"  interrupted  Mr.  Mansell,  gravely  ;  "but 
you  say  you  are  a  detective.  Now,  I  have  no  informa- 
tion to  give  a  detective." 

"  Are  you  sure  ? "  was  the  imperturbable  query. 

"  Quite,"  was  the  quick  reply. 

**  You  are  then  determined  upon  going  to  the  scaffold, 
whether  or  no  ?"  remarked  Mr.  Gryce,  somewhat  grimly. 

"  Yes,  if  to  escape  it  I  must  confide  in  a  detective." 

"  Then  you  do  wrong,"  declared  the  other  ;  "  as  I  will 
immediately  proceed  to  show  you.  Mr.  Mansell,  you 
are,  of  course,  aware  of  the  manner  of  Mr.  Orcutt's 
death  ? " 

"  I  know  he  was  struck  by  a  falling  limb." 

"  Do  you  know  what  he  was  doing  when  this  oc- 
curred ?  " 

"  No." 

"  He  was  escorting  Miss  Dare  down  to  the  gate." 

The  prisoner,  whose  countenance  had  brightened  at  the 
mention  of  his  lawyer,  turned  a  deadly  white  at  this. 

"And — and  was  Miss  Dare  hurt  ?  "  he  asked. 

The  detective  shook  his  head. 

"  Then  why  do  you  tell  me  this  ?  " 

"  Because  it  has  much  to  do  with  the  occasion  of  my 
coming  here,  Mr.  Mansell,"  proceeded  Mr.  Gryce,  in 
that  tone  of  completely  understanding  himself  which  he 
knew  so  well  how  to  assume  with  men   of  the  prisoner's 


532  HAND   AND   RING. 

Stamp.  "  I  am  going  to  speak  to  you  without  circum- 
locution or  disguise.  I  am  going  to  put  your  position  be- 
fore you  just  as  it  is.  You  are  on  trial  for  a  murder  of 
which  not  only  yourself,  but  another  man,  was  suspected. 
Why  are  you  on  trial  instead  of  him  ?  Because  you  were 
reticent  in  regard  to  certain  matters  which  common-sense 
would  say  you  ought  to  be  able  to  explain.  Why  were 
you  reticent  ?  There  can  be  but  one  answer.  Because 
you  feared  to  implicate  another  person,  for  whose  happi- 
ness and  honor  you  had  more  regard  than  for  your  own. 
Who  was  that  other  person  ?  The  woman  who  stood  up 
in  court  yesterday  and  declared  she  had  herself  com- 
mitted this  crime.  What  is  the  conclusion  ?  You  be- 
lieve, and  have  always  believed,  Miss  Dare  to  be  the 
assassin  of  Mrs,  Clemmens." 

The  prisoner,  whose  pallor  had  increased  with  every 
word  the  detective  uttered,  leaped  to  his  feet  at  this  last 
sentence. 

"  You  have  no  right  to  say  that !  "  he  vehemently 
asseverated.  "  What  do  you  know  of  my  thoughts  or  my 
beliefs  ?  Do  I  carry  my  convictions  on  my  sleeve  ?  I 
am  not  the  man  to  betray  my  ideas  or  feelings  to  the 
world." 

Mr.  Gryce  smiled.  To  be  sure,  this  expression  of  si- 
lent complacency  was  directed  to  the  grating  of  the 
window  overhead,  but  it  was  none  the  less  effectual  on 
that  account.  Mr,  Mansell,  despite  his  self-command, 
began  to  look  uneasy. 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  533 

"  Prove  your  words  !  "  he  cried.  **  Show  that  these 
have  been  my  convictions  !  " 

"Very  well,"  returned  Mr.  Gryce.  "Why  were  you 
so  long  silent  about  the  ring  ?  Because  you  did  not  wish 
to  compromise  Miss  Dare  by  declaring  she  did  not  re- 
turn it  to  you,  as  she  had  said.  Why  did  you  try  to  stop 
her  in  the  midst  of  her  testimony  yesterday  ?  Because 
you  saw  it  was  going  to  end  in  confession.  Finally,  why 
did  you  throw  aside  your  defence,  and  instead  of  pro- 
claiming yourself  guilty,  simply  tell  how  you  were  able  to 
reach  Monteith  Quarry  Station  in  ninety  minutes  ?  Be- 
cause you  feared  her  guilt  would  be  confirmed  if  her 
statements  were  investigated,  and  were  willing  to  sac- 
rifice every  thing  but  the  truth  in  order  to  save  her." 

*'  You  give  me  credit  for  a  great  deal  of  generosity," 
coldly  replied  the  prisoner.  "  After  the  evidence  brought 
against  me  by  the  prosecution,  I  should  think  my  guilt 
would  be  accepted  as  proved  the  moment  I  showed  that 
I  had  not  left  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  at  the  time  she  was 
believed  to  be  murdered." 

"And  so  it  would,"  responded  Mr.  Gryce,  "if  the 
prosecution  had  not  seen  reason  to  believe  that  the  mo- 
ment of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  death  has  been  put  too  early. 
We  now  think  she  was  not  struck  till  some  time  after 
twelve,  instead  of  five  minutes  before." 

"  Indeed  ? "  said  Mr,  Mansell,  with  stern  self- 
control. 

Mr.  Gryce,   whose  carelessly  roving  eye  told  little  of 


534  HAND   AND   RING. 

the  close  study  with  which  he  was  honoring  the  man 
before  him,  nodded  with  grave  decision. 

"You  could  add  very  much  to  our  convictions  on  this 
point,"  he  observed,  "  by  telling  what  it  was  you  saw  or 
heard  in  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  at  the  moment  you  fled 
from  it  so  abruptly." 

"  How  do  you  know  I  fled  from  it  abruptly  ?  " 

"  You  were  seen.  The  fact  has  not  appeared  in  court, 
but  a  witness  we  might  name  perceived  you  flying  from 
your  aunt's  door  to  the  swamp  as  if  your  life  depended 
upon  the  speed  you  made." 

"  And  with  that  fact  added  to  all  the  rest  you  have 
against  me,  you  say  you  believe  me  innocent  ? "  ex- 
claimed Mr.  Mansell. 

"  Yes  ;  for  I  have  also  said  I  believe  Mrs.  Clemmens 
not  to  have  been  assaulted  till  after  the  hour  of  noon. 
You  fled  from  the  door  at  precisely  five  minutes  be- 
fore it." 

The  uneasiness  of  Mr.  Mansell's  face  increased,  till  it 
amounted  to  agitation. 

"  And  may  I  ask,"  said  he,  "  what  has  happened  to 
make  you  believe  she  was  not  struck  at  the  moment 
hitherto  supposed?" 

"Ah,  now,"  replied  the  detective,  "  we  come  down  to 
facts."  And  leaning  with  a  confidential  air  toward  the 
prisoner,  he  quietly  said  :  "  Your  counsel  has  died,  for 
one  thing." 

Astonished  as  much  by  the  tone  as  the  tenor  of  these 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  535 

words,  Mr.  Mansell  drew  back  from  his  visitor  in  some 
distrust.  Seeing  it,  Mr.  Gryce  edged  still  farther  for- 
ward, and  calmly  continued  : 

"  If  no  one  has  told  you  the  particulars  of  Mr.  Orcutt's 
death,  you  probably  do  not  know  why  Miss  Dare  was  at 
his  house  last  evening  ?  " 

The  look  of  the  prisoner  was  sufficient  reply, 

"  She  went  there,"  resumed  Mr.  Gryce,  with  com- 
posure, "  to  tell  him  that  her  whole  evidence  against  you 
had  been  given  under  the  belief  that  you  were  guilty  of 
the  crime  with  which  you  had  been  charged  ;  that  by  a 
trick  of  my  fellow-detectives.  Hickory  and  Byrd,  she  had 
been  deceived  into  thinking  you  had  actually  admitted 
your  guilt  to  her  ;  and  that  she  had  only  been  undeceived 
after  she  had  uttered  the  perjury  with  which  she  sought 
to  save  you  yesterday  morning." 

"  Perjury  ?  "  escaped  involuntarily  from  Craik  Man- 
sell's  lips. 

"  Yes,"  repeated  the  detective,  "  perjury.  Miss  Dare 
lied  when  she  said  she  had  been  to  Mrs.  Clemmens'  cot- 
tage on  the  morning  of  the  murder.  She  was  not  there, 
nor  did  she  lift  her  hand  against  the  widow's  life.  That 
tale  she  told  to  escape  telling  another  which  she  thought 
would  insure  your  doom." 

"  You  have  been  talking  to  Miss  Dare  ?  "  suggested 
the  prisoner,  with  subdued  sarcasm. 

"  I  have  been  talking  to  my  two  men,"  was  the  un- 
moved  retort,  "to  Hickory  and  to  Byrd,  and  they  not 


53^  HAND   AND   RING. 

only  confirm  this  statement  of  hers  in  regard  to  the 
deception  they  played  upon  her,  but  say  enough  to  show 
she  could  not  have  been  guilty  of  the  crime,  because  at 
that  time  she  honestly  believed  you  to  be  so." 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,"  cried  the  prisoner,  in  a 
voice  that,  despite  his  marked  self-control,  showed  the 
presence  of  genuine  emotion. 

Mr.  Gryce  at  once  went  into  particulars.  He  was  anx- 
ious to  have  Craik  Mansell's  mind  disabused  of  the  notion 
that  Imogene  had  committed  this  crime,  since  upon 
that  notion  he  believed  his  unfortunate  reticence  to  rest. 
He  therefore  gave  him  a  full  relation  of  the  scene  in  the 
hut,  together  with  all  its  consequences. 

Mr.  Mansell  listened  like  a  man  in  a  dream.  Some 
fact  in  the  past  evidently  made  this  story  incredible  to 
him. 

Seeing  it,  Mr.  Gryce  did  not  wait  to  hear  his  comments, 
but  upon  finishing  his  account,  exclaimed,  with  a  confi- 
dent air  : 

"  Such  testimony  is  conclusive.  It  is  impossible  to 
consider  Miss  Dare  guilty,  after  an  insight  of  this  kind 
into  the  real  state  of  her  mind.  Even  she  has  seen  the 
uselessness  of  persisting  in  her  self-accusation,  and,  as  I 
have  already  told  you,  went  to  Mr.  Orcutt's  house  in 
order  to  explain  to  him  her  past  conduct,  and  ask  his 
advice  for  the  future.  She  learned  something  else  before 
her  interview  with  Mr.  Orcutt  ended,"  continued  the  de- 
tective,   impressively.       "  She  learned  that  she  had  not 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  537 

only  been  mistaken  in  supposing  you  had  admitted  your 
guilt,  but  that  you  could  not  have  been  guilty,  because 
you  had  always  believed  her  to  be  so.  It  has  been  a 
mutual  case  of  suspicion,  you  see,  and  argues  innocence 
on  the  part  of  you  both.  Or  so  it  seems  to  the  prosecu- 
tion.    How  does  it  seem  to  you  ?  " 

"  Would  it  help  my  cause  to  say  ?  " 

"  It  would  help  your  cause  to  tell  what  sent  you  so 
abruptly  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  the  morning  she 
was  murdered." 

"  I  do  not  ?ee  how,"  returned  the  prisoner. 

The  glance  of  Mr.  Gryce  settled  confidentially  on  his 
right  hand  where  it  lay  outspread  upon  his  ample  knee. 

"  Mr.  Mansell,"  he  inquired,  'Miave  you  no  curiosity  to 
know  any  details  of  the  accident  by  v/hich  you  have  un- 
expectedly been  deprived  of  a  counsel  ?  " 

Evidently  surprised  at  this  sudden  change  of  subject, 
Craik  replied  : 

"  If  I  had  not  hoped  you  would  understand  my  anxiety 
and  presently  relieve  it,  I  could  not  have  shown  you  as 
much  patience  as  I  have." 

"Very  well,"  rejoined  Mr.  Gryce,  altering  his  manner 
with  a  suddenness  that  evidently  alarmed  his  listener. 
"  Mr.  Orcutt  did  not  die  immediately  after  he  was  struck 
down.  He  lived  some  hours ;  lived  to  say  some  words 
that  have  materially  changed  the  suspicions  of  persons 
interested  in  the  case  he  was  defending," 

"  Mr.  Orcutt  ?  " 


538  HAND   AND    RING 

The  tone  was  one  of  surprise.  Mr.  Gryce's  little 
finger  seemed  to  take  note  of  it,  for  it  tapped  the  leg 
beneath  it  in  quite  an  emphatic  manner  as  he  continued  : 
"  It  was  in  answer  to  a  question  put  to  him  by  Miss 
Dare.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one,  she  had  not  left 
him  from  the  moment  they  were  mutually  relieved  from 
the  weight  of  the  fallen  limb,  but  had  stood  over  him  for 
hours,  watching  for  him  to  rouse  from  his  insensibility. 
When  he  did,  she  appealed  to  him  in  a  way  that  showed 
she  expected  a  reply,  to  tell  her  who  it  was  that  killed 
the  Widow  Clemmens." 

"  And  did  JNIr.  Orcutt  know  ? "  was  Mansell's  half- 
agitated,  half-incredulous  query. 

*'  His  answer  seemed  to  show  that  he  did.  Mr.  Man- 
sell,  have  you  ever  had  any  doubts  of  Mr.  Orcutt  1 " 

"Doubts  ?" 

"  Doubts  as  to  his  integrity,  good-heartedness,  or  desire 
to  serve  you  ?  " 

"No." 

"  You  will,  then,  be  greatly  surprised,"  Mr.  Gryce  went 
on,  with  increased  gravity,  "  when  I  tell  you  that  Mr. 
Orcutt's  reply  to  Miss  Dare's  question  was  such  as  to 
draw  attention  to  himself  as  the  assassin  of  Widow  Clem- 
mens, and  that  his  words  and  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  were  uttered  have  so  impressed  Mr.  Ferris, 
that  the  question  now  agitating  his  mind  is  not,  '  Is  Craik 
Mansell  innocent,  but  was  his  counsel,  Tremont  Orcutt, 
guilty  ?  '  " 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  539 

The  excited  look  which  had  appeared  on  the  face  of 
ManseU  at  the  beginning  of  this  speech,  changed  to  one 
of  strong  disgust. 

"  This  is  too  much  !  "  he  cried.  "  I  am  not  a  fool  to  be 
caught  by  any  such  make-believe  as  this  !  Mr  Orcutt 
thought  to  be  an  assassin  ?  You  might  as  well  say 
that  people  accuse  Judge  Evans  of  killing  the  Widow 
Clemmens." 

Mr.  Gryce,  who  had  perhaps  stretched  a  point  when 
he  so  unequivocally  declared  his  complete  confidence  in 
the  innocence  of  the  man  before  him,  tapped  his  leg 
quite  affectionately  at  this  burst  of  natural  indignation, 
and  counted  off  another  point  in  favor  of  the  prisoner. 
His  words,  however,  were  dry  as  sarcasm  could  make 
them. 

"  No,"  said  he,  "  for  people  know  that  Judge  Evans 
was  without  the  opportunity  for  committing  this  murder, 
while  every  one  remembers  how  Mr.  Orcutt  went  to  the 
widow's  house  and  came  out  again  with  tidings  of  her 
death." 

The  prisoner's  lip  curled  disdainfully. 

"  And  do  you  expect  me  to  believe  you  regard  this  as 
a  groundwork  for  suspicion  ?  I  should  have  given  you 
credit  for  more  penetration,  sir." 

"  Then  you  do  not  think  Mr.  Orcutt  knew  what  he 
was  saying  when,  in  answer  to  Miss  Dare's  appeal  for  him 
to  tell  who  the  murderer  was,  he  answered  :  '  Blood  will 
have  blood  ! '  and  drew  attention  to  his  own  violent 
end  ;' " 


540  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Did  Mr.  Orcutt  say  that  ?  " 

"He  did." 

"  Very  well,  a  man  whose  whole  mind  has  for  some 
time  been  engrossed  with  defending  another  man  accused 
of  murder,  might  say  any  thing  while  in  a  state  of 
delirium." 

Mr,  Gryce  uttered  his  favorite  "  Humph  !  "  and  gave 
his  leg  another  pat,  but  added,  gravely  enough :  "  Miss 
Dare  believes  his  words  to  be  those  of  confession." 

"  You  say  Miss  Dare  once  believed  me  to  have  con- 
fessed." 

"  But,"  persisted  the  detective,  "  Miss  Dare  is  not 
alone  in  her  opinion.  Men  in  whose  judgment  you  must 
rely,  find  it  difficult  to  explain  the  words  of  Mr.  Orcutt 
by  means  of  any  other  theory  than  that  he  is  himself  the 
perpetrator  of  that  crime  for  which  you  are  yourself 
being  tried." 

"  I  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  possible,"  quietly 
returned  the  prisoner.  "  What !  "  he  suddenly  exclaimed  ; 
"  suspect  a  man  of  Mr.  Orcutt's  abilities  and  standing  of 
a  hideous  crime — the  very  crime,  too,  with  which  his 
client  is  charged,  and  in  defence  of  whom  he  has  brought 
all  his  skill  to  bear  !  The  idea  is  preposterous,  unheard 
of  !  " 

"  I  acknowledge  that,"  dryly  assented  Mr.  Gryce ; 
"but  it  has  been  my  experience  to  find  that  it  is  the 
preposterous  things  which  happen." 

For  a  minute  the  prisoner  stared  at  the  speaker  in- 
credulously ;  then  he  cried  : 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  541 

"  You  really  appear  to  be  in  earnest." 

"  I  was  never  more  so  in  my  life,"  was  Mr.  Gryce's 
rejoinder. 

Drawing  back,  Craik  Mansell  looked  at  the  detective 
with  an  emotion  that  had  almost  the  character  of  hope. 
Presently  he  said  : 

"If  you  do  distrust  Mr.  Orcutt,  you  must  have  weigh- 
tier reasons  for  it  than  any  you  have  given  me.  What  are 
they  ?  You  must  be  willing  I  should  know,  or  you  would 
not  have  gone  as  far  with  me  as  you  have." 

"  You  are  right,"  Gryce  assured  him.  "  A  case  so  com- 
plicated as  this  calls  for  unusual  measures.  Mr.  Ferris, 
feeling  the  gravity  of  his  position,  allows  me  to  take  you 
into  our  confidence,  in  the  hope  that  you  will  be  able  to 
help  us  out  of  our  difificulty." 

"  I  help  you  !     You  'd  better  release  me  first." 

"  That  will  come  in  time." 

"If\  help  you?" 

"  Whether  you  help  or  not,  if  we  can  satisfy  ourselves 
and  the  world  that  Mr.  Orcutt's  words  were  a  confession. 
You  may  hasten  that  conviction." 

"How?" 

"  By  clearing  up  the  mystery  of  your  flight  from  Mrs. 
Clernmens'  house." 

The  keen  eyes  of  the  prisoner  fell  ;  all  his  old  distrust 
seemed  on  the  point  of  returning. 

"  That  would  not  help  you  at  all,"  said  he. 

"I  should  like  to  be  the  judge,"  said  Mr.  Gryce. 


542  HAND   AND   RING. 

The  prisoner  shook  his  head. 

"  My  word  must  go  for  it,"  said  he. 

The  detective  had  been  the  hero  of  too  many  such 
scenes  to  be  easily  discouraged.  Bowing  as  if  accepting 
this  conclusion  from  the  prisoner,  he  quietly  proceeded 
with  the  recital  he  had  planned.  With  a  frankness  cer- 
tainly unusual  to  him,  he  gave  the  prisoner  a  full  account 
of  Mr.  Orcutt's  last  hours,  and  the  interview  which  had 
followed  between  himself  and  Miss  Dare.  To  this  he  ad- 
ded his  own  reasons  for  doubting  the  lawyer,  and,  while 
admitting  he  saw  no  motive  for  the  deed,  gave  it  as  his 
serious  opinion,  that  the  motive  would  be  found  if  once  he 
could  get  at  the  secret  of  Mr.  Orcutt's  real  connection  with 
the  deceased.  He  was  so  eloquent,  and  so  manifestly  in 
earnest,  Mr.  Mansell's  eye  brightened  in  spite  of  himself, 
and  when  the  detective  ceased  he  looked  up  with  an  ex- 
pression which  convinced  Mr.  Gryce  that  half  the  bat- 
tle was  won.  He  accordingly  said,  in  a  tone  of  great 
confidence  : 

"  A  knowledge  of  what  went  on  in  Mrs.  Clemmens 
house  before  he  went  to  it  would  be  of  great  help  to  us. 
With  that  for  a  start,  all  may  be  learned.  I  therefore  put 
it  to  you  for  the  last  time  whether  it  would  not  be  best  for 
you  to  explain  yourself  on  this  point.  I  am  sure  you  will 
not  regret  it." 

"  Sir,"  said  Mansell,  with  undisturbed  composure,  "  if 
your  purpose  is  to  fix  this  crime  on  Mr.  Orcutt,  I  must 
insist  upon  your  taking  my  word  that  I  have  no  informa- 
tion to  give  you  that  can  in  any  way  affect  him." 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  543 

"  You  could  give  us  information,  then,  that  would  affect 
Miss  Dare  ?  "  was  the  quick  retort.  "  Now,  I  say,"  the 
astute  detective  declared,  as  the  prisoner  gave  an  almost 
imperceptible  start,  "  that  whatever  your  information  is, 
Miss  Dare  is  not  guilty." 

"You  say  it  !"  exclaimed  the  prisoner.  "What  does 
your  opinion  amount  to  if  you  have  n't  heard  the  evidence 
against  her  ?" 

"  There  is  no  evidence  against  her  but  what  is  purely 
circumstantial." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ?  " 

"  Because  she  is  innocent.  Circumstantial  evidence  may 
exist  alike  against  the  innocent  and  the  guilty  ;  real  evi- 
dence only  against  the  guilty.  I  mean  to  say  that  as  I 
am  firmly  convinced  Miss  Dare  once  regarded  you  as 
guilty  of  this  crime,  I  must  be  equally  convinced  she 
did  n't  commit  it  herself.     This  is  unanswerable." 

"  You  have  stated  that  before." 

"  I  know  it  ;  but  I  want  you  to  see  the  force  of  it  ;  be- 
cause, once  convinced  with  me  that  Miss  Dare  is  innocent, 
you  will  be  willing  to  tell  all  you  know,  even  what  appa- 
rently implicates  her." 

Silence  answered  this  remark. 

"  You  did  n't  see  her  strike  the  blow  ?  " 

Mansell  roused  indignantly. 

"  No,  of  course  not  !  "  he  cried. 

"  You  did  not  see  her  with  your  aunt  that  moment  you 
fled  from  the  house  immediatelv  before  the  murder  !  " 


544  HAND   AND   RING. 

"I  did  n't  see  her." 

That  emphasis,  unconscious,  perhaps,  was  fatal.  Gryce, 
who  never  lost  any  thing,  darted  on  this  small  gleam  of 
advantage  as  a  hungry  pike  darts  upon  an  innocent 
minnow. 

"  But  you  thought  you  heard  her,"  he  cried  ;  "  her 
voice,  or  her  laugh,  or  perhaps  merely  the  rustle  of  her 
dress  in  another  room  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Mansell,  "  I  did  n't  hear  her." 

"  Of  course  not,"  was  the  instantaneous  reply.  "  But 
something  said  or  done  by  somebody — a  something 
which  amounts  to  nothing  as  evidence — gives  you  to 
understand  she  was  there,  and  so  you  hold  your  tongue 
for  fear  of  compromising  her." 

"  Amounts  to  nothing  as  evidence  ?  "  echoed  Mansell. 
"  How  do  you  know  that  ?  " 

"  Because  Miss  Dare  was  not  in  the  house  with  your 
aunt  at  that  time.  Miss  Dare  was  in  Professor  Darling's 
observatory,  a  mile  or  so  away." 

"  Does  she  say  that  ?  " 

"We  \V\\\  prove  that." 

Aroused,  excited,  the  prisoner  turned  his  flashing  blue 
eyes  on  the  detective. 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  have  you,"  he  said. 

"  But  you  must  first  tell  me  in  what  room  you  were 
when  you  received  this  intimation  of  Miss  Dare's  pres- 
ence ? " 

"  I  was  in  no  room  ;  I  was  on  the  stone  step  outside  of 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  545 

the  dining-room  door.  I  did  not  go  into  the  house  at  all 
that  morning,  as  I  believe  I  have  already  told  Mr. 
Ferris." 

"  Very  good  !  It  will  all  be  simpler  than  I  thought. 
You  came  up  to  the  house  and  went  away  again  without 
coming  in  ;  ran  away,  I  may  say,  taking  the  direction  of 
the  swamp." 

The  prisoner  did  not  deny  it. 

"  You  remember  all  the  incidents  of  that  short  flight  ? " 

The  prisoner's  lip  curled. 

"  Remember  leaping  the  fence  and  stumbling  a  trifle 
when  you  came  down  ?  " 

''  Yes." 

"  Very  well ;  now  tell  me  how  could  Miss  Dare  see  you 
do  that  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  ? " 

"  Did  Miss  Dare  tell  you  she  saw  me  trip  after  I 
jumped  the  fence  ?  " 

"  She  did." 

"  And  yet  was  in  Professor  Darling's  observatory,  a 
mile  or  so  away  ?  " 

"Yes." 

A  satirical  laugh  broke  from  the  prisoner. 

"I  think,"  said  he,  "that  instead  of  my  telling  you 
how  she  could  have  seen  this  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house, 
you  should  tell  me  how  she  could  have  seen  it  from  Pro- 
fessor Darling's  observatory." 

"  That  is  easy  enough.  She  was  looking  through  a 
telescope." 


546  HAND   AND    RING. 

"What?" 

"  At  the  moment  you  were  turning  from  Mrs.  Clem- 
mens'  door,  Miss  Dare,  perched  in  the  top  of  Professor 
Darling's  house,  was  looking  in  that  very  direction 
through  a  telescope." 

"  I — I  would  like  to  believe  that  story,"  said  the 
prisoner,  with  suppressed  emotion.     "It  would " 

"  What  ?  "  urged  the  detective,  calmly. 

"  Make  a  new  man  of  me,"  finished  Mansell,  with  a 
momentary  burst  of  feeling. 

"  Well,  then,  call  up  your  memories  of  the  way  your 
aunt's  house  is  situated.  Recall  the  hour,  and  acknowl- 
edge that,  if  Miss  Dare  was  with  her,  she  must  have  been 
in  the  dining-room." 

"  There  is  no  doubt  about  that." 

"  Now,  how  many  windows  has  the  dining-room  ?  " 

"  One." 

"  How  situated  ?  " 

''  It  is  on  the  same  side  as  the  door." 

"  There  is  none,  then,  which  looks  down  to  that  place 
where  you  leaped  the  fence  ? " 

"No." 

"  How  account  for  her  seeing  that  little  incident,  then, 
of  your  stumbling?" 

"  She  might  have  come  to  the  door,  stepped  out,  and 
so  seen  me." 

"  Humph  !  I  see  you  have  an  answer  for  every 
thing." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  547 

Craik  Mansell  was  silent. 

A  look  of  admiration  slowly  spread  itself  over  the  de- 
tective's face. 

"  We  must  probe  the  matter  a  little  deeper,"  said  he. 
"  I  see  I  have  a  hard  head  to  deal  with."  And,  bringing 
his  glance  a  little  nearer  to  the  prisoner,  he  remarked  : 

"  If  she  had  been  standing  there  you  could  not  have 
turned  round  without  seeing  her  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Now,  did  you  see  her  standing  there  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Yet  you  turned  round  ?" 

"I  did?" 

"  Miss  Dare  says  so." 

The  prisoner  struck  his  forehead  with  his  hand. 

"  And  it  is  so,"  he  cried.  "  I  remember  now  that  some 
vague  desire  to  know  the  time  made  me  turn  to  look 
at  the  church  clock.  Go  on.  Tell  me  more  that  Miss 
Dare  saw." 

His  manner  was  so  changed — his  eye  burned  so  brightly 
— the  detective  gave  himself  a  tap  of  decided  self-gratu- 
lation. 

"  She  saw  you  hurry  over  the  bog,  stop  at  the  entrance 
of  the  wood,  take  a  look  at  your  watch,  and  plunge  with 
renewed  speed  into  the  forest." 

"Jt  is  so.  It  is  so.  And,  to  have  seen  that,  she  must 
have  had  the  aid  of  a  telescope." 

"  Then  she  describes  your  appearance.     She  says  you 


548  HAND   AND    RING. 

had  your  pants  turned  up  at  the  ankles,  and  carried  your 
coat  on  your  left  arm," 

"  Left  arm  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  I  think  I  had  it  on  my  right." 

"  It  v/as  on  the  arm  toward  her,  she  declares.  If  she 
was  in  the  observatory,  it  was  your  left  side  that  she 
saw." 

"  Yes,  yes  ;  but  the  coat  was  over  the  other  arm.  I 
remember  using  my  left  hand  in  vaulting  over  the  fence 
when  I  came  up  to  the  house." 

"  It  is  a  vital  point,"  said  Mr.  Gryce,  with  a  quietness 
that  concealed  his  real  anxiety  and  chagrin.  "  If  the 
coat  was  on  the  arm  toward  her,  the  fact  of  its  being  on 
the  right " 

"  Wait  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Mansell,  with  an  air  of  sud- 
den relief.  "  I  recollect  now  that  I  changed  it  from  one 
arm  to  the  other  after  I  vaulted  the  fence.  It  was  just  at 
the  moment  I  turned  to  come  back  to  the  side  door,  and, 
as  she  does  not  pretend  to  have  seen  me  till  after  I  left 
the  door,  of  course  the  coat  was,  as  she  says,  on  my  left 
arm." 

"  I  thought  you  could  explain  it,"  returned  Mr.  Gryce, 
with  an  air  of  easy  confidence.  "  But  what  do  you  mean 
when  you  say  that  you  changed  it  at  the  moment  you 
turned  to  come  back  to  the  side  door?  Didn't  you  go 
at  once  to  the  dining-room  door  from  the  swamp  ?  " 

"  No.     I  had  gone  to   the  front  door  on   my  former 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  549 

visit,  and  was  going  to  it  this  time  ;  but  when  1  got  to 
the  corner  of  the  house  I  saw  the  tramp  coming  into  the 
gate,  and  not  wishing  to  encounter  any  one,  turned 
round  and  came  back  to  the  dining-room  door." 

"I  see.     And  it  was  then  you  heard " 

"  What  I  heard,"  completed  the  prisoner,  grimly. 

"Mr.  Mansell,"  said  the  other,  "are  you  not  suffi- 
ciently convinced  by  this  time  that  Miss  Dare  was  not  with 
Mrs.  Clemmens,  but  in  the  observatory  of  Professor  Dar- 
ling's house,  to  tell  me  what  that  was  ?  " 

"  Answer  me  a  question  and  I  will  reply.  Can  the 
entrance  of  the  woods  be  seen  from  the  position  which 
she  declares  herself  to  have  occupied  ? " 

"  It  can.  Not  two  hours  ago  I  tried  the  experiment 
myself,  using  the  same  telescope  and  kneeling  in  the 
same  place  where  she  did.  I  found  I  could  not  only 
trace  the  spot  where  you  paused,  but  could  detect  quite 
readily  every  movement  of  my  man  Hickory,  whom  I  had 
previously  placed  there  to  go  through  the  motions.  I 
should  not  have  come  here  if  I  had  not  made  myself  cer- 
tain on  that  point." 

Yet  the  prisoner  hesitated. 

"  I  not  only  made  myself  sure  of  that,"  resumed  Mr. 
Gryce,  "  but  I  also  tried  if  I  could  see  as  much  with  my 
naked  eye  from  Mrs.  Clemmens'  side  door.  I  found  I 
could  not,  and  my  sight  is  very  good." 

"Enough,"  said  Mansell ;  "hard  as  it  is  to  explain,  I 
must  believe  Miss  Dare  was  not  where  I  thought  her." 


550  HAND   AND    RING, 

"  Then  you  will  tell  me  what  you  heard  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  for  in  it  may  lie  the  key  to  this  mystery,  though 
how,  I  cannot  see,  and  doubt  if  you  can.  I  am  all  the 
more  ready  to  do  it,"  he  pursued,  ''  because  I  can  now 
understand  how  she  came  to  think  me  guilty,  and,  think- 
ing so,  conducted  herself  as  she  has  done  from  the  be- 
ginning of  my  trial.  All  but  the  fact  of  her  denouncing 
herself  yesterday;  that  I  cannot  comprehend." 

"  A  woman  in  love  can  do  any  thing,"  quoth  Mr.  Gryce. 
Then  admonished  by  the  flush  of  the  prisoner's  cheek 
that  he  was  treading  on  dangerous  ground,  he  quickly 
added  :  "  But  she  will  explain  all  that  herself  some  day. 
Let  us  hear  what  you  have  to  tell  me." 

Craik  Mansell  drooped  his  head  and  his  brow  became 
gloomy. 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  "  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  state  that 
your  surmise  in  regard  to  my  past  convictions  is  true.  If 
Miss  Dare  was  not  with  my  aunt  just  before  the  murder, 
I  certainly  had  reasons  for  thinking  she  was.  To  be  sure, 
I  did  not  see  her  or  hear  her  voice,  but  I  heard  my  aunt 
address  her  distinctly  and  by  name." 

"  You  did  ? "  Mr.  Gryce's  interest  in  the  tattoo  he 
was  playing  on  his  knee  became  intense. 

"  Yes.  It  was  just  as  I  pushed  the  door  ajar.  The 
words  were  these  :  '  You  think  you  are  going  to  marry 
him,  Imogene  Dare  ;  but  I  tell  you  you  7iever  shall,  not 
while  /live.'  " 

"  Humph  !  "  broke  involuntarily  from  the   detective's 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  55 1 

lips,  and,  though  his  face  betrayed  nothing  of  the  shock 
this  communication  occasioned  him,  his  fingers  stopped 
an  instant  in  their  restless  play. 

Mr.  Mansell  saw  it  and  cast  him  an  anxious  look.  The 
detective  instantly  smiled  with  great  unconcern.  "  Go 
on,"  said  he,  "  what  else  did  you  hear  ? " 

"  Nothing  else.  In  the  mood  in  which  I  was  this  very 
plain  intimation  that  Miss  Dare  had  sought  my  aunt,  had 
pleaded  with  her  for  me  and  failed,  struck  me  as  suffi- 
cient. I  did  not  wait  to  hear  more,  but  hurried  away  in 
a  state  of  passion  that  was  little  short  of  frenzy.  To 
leave  the  place  and  return  to  my  work  was  now  my  one 
wish.  When  I  found,  then,  that  by  running  I  might 
catch  the  train  at  Monteith,  I  ran,  and  so  unconsciously 
laid  myself  open  to  suspicion." 

"I  see,"  murmured  the  detective  ;  "  I  see." 

"Not  that  I  suspected  any  evil  then,"  pursued  Mr. 
Mansell,  earnestly,  "  I  was  only  conscious  of  disappoint- 
ment and  a  desire  to  escape  from  my  own  thoughts.  It 
was  not  till  next  day " 

"  Yes — yes,"  interrupted  Mr.  Gryce,"  abstractedly, 
"  but  your  aunt's  words  !  She  said  :  '  You  think  you  are 
going  to  marry  him,  Imogene  Dare  ;  but  you  never  shall, 
not  while  I  live.'  Yet  Imogene  Dare  was  not  there.  Let 
us  solve  that  problem." 

"  You  think  you  can  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  must." 

"  How  ?  how  ?  " 


552  HAND   AND   RING. 

The  detective  did  not  answer.  He  was  buried  in  pro- 
found thought.     Suddenly  he  exclaimed  : 

"  It  is,  as  you  say,  the  key-note  to  the  tragedy.  It  must 
be  solved."  But  the  glance  he  dived  deep  into  space 
seemed  to  echo  that  "  How  ?  how  ?  "  of  the  prisoner,  with 
a  gloomy  persistence  that  promised  little  sor  an  immedi- 
ate answer  to  the  enigma  before  them.  It  occurred  to 
Mansell  to  offer  a  suggestion, 

"There  is  but  one  way  /  can  explain  it,"  said  he. 
"My  aunt  was  speaking  to  herself.  She  was  deaf  and 
lived  alone.     Such  people  often  indulge  in  soliloquizing." 

The  slap  which  Mr.  Gryce  gave  his  thigh  must  have 
made  it  tingle  for  a  good  half-hour. 

"  There,"  he  cried,  "  who  says  extraordinary  measures 
are  not  useful  at  times  ?  You  've  hit  the  very  explana- 
tion. Of  course  she  was  speaking  to  herself.  She  was 
just  the  woman  to  do  it.  Imogen e  Dare  was  in  her 
thoughts,  so  she  addressed  Imogene  Dare.  If  you  had 
opened  the  door  you  would  have  seen  her  standing  there 
alone,  venting  her  thoughts  into  empty  space." 

"  I  wish  I  had,"  said  the  prisoner. 

Mr.  Gryce  became  exceedingly  animated.  "  Well, 
that 's  settled,"  said  he.  "  Imogene  Dare  was  not  there, 
save  in  Mrs.  Clemmens'  imagination.  And  now  for  the 
conclusion.  She  said  :  '  You  think  you  are  going  to 
marry  him,  Imogene  Dare  ;  but  you  never  shall,  not  while 
I  live.'     That  shows  her  mind  was  running  on  you." 

"  It  shows  more  than  that.     It  shows  that,  if  Miss  Dare 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  553 

was  not  with  her  then,  she  must  have  been  there  earUer 
in  the  day.  For,  when  I  left  my  aunt  the  day  before,  she 
was  in  entire  ignorance  of  my  attachment  to  Miss  Dare, 
and  the  hopes  it  had  led  to." 

"  Say  that  again,"  cried  Gryce. 

Mr.  Mansell  repeated  himself,  adding  :  "  That  would 
account  for  the  ring  being  found  on  my  aunt's  dining- 
room  floor " 

But  Mr.  Gryce  waved  that  question  aside. 

"  What  I  want  to  make  sure  of  is  that  your  aunt 
had  not  been  informed  of  your  wishes  as  concerned  Miss 
Dare." 

"  Unless  Miss  Dare  was  there  in  the  early  morning  and 
told  her  herself." 

"  There  were  no  neighbors  to  betray  you  ? " 

"  There  was  n't  a  neighbor  who  knew  any  thing  about 
the  matter." 

The  detective's  eye  brightened  till  it  vied  in  brilliancy 
with  the  stray  gleam  of  sunshine  which  had  found  its 
way  to  the  cell  through  the  narrow  grating  over  their 
heads. 

"  A  clue  ! "  he  murmured  ;  "  I  have  received  a  clue," 
and  rose  as  if  to  leave. 

The  prisoner,  startled,  rose  also. 

"  A  clue  to  what  ?  "  he  cried. 

But  Mr.  Gryce  was  not  the  man  to  answer  such  a 
question. 

"You  shall  hear  soon.     Enough  that  you  have  given 


554  HAND   AND    RING. 

me  an  idea  that  may  eventually  lead  to  the  clearing  up  of 
this  mystery,  if  not  to  your  own  acquittal  from  a  false 
charge  of  murder." 

"  And  Miss  Dare  ? " 

"  Is  under  no  charge,  and  never  will  be." 

"  And  Mr.  Orcutt  ? " 

"  Wait,"  said  Mr.  Gryce— "  wait." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  555 


XLI. 


A    LINK    SUPPLIED. 


Upon  his  bloody  finger  he  doth  wear 
A  precious  ring. 

— Titus  Andronicus. 

Make  me  to  see  it  ;  or  at  the  least  so  prove  it, 
That  the  probation  bear  no  hinge  nor  loop 
To  hang  a  doubt  on. 

— Othello. 

MR.  GRYCE  did  not  believe  that  Imogene  Dare 
had  visited  Mrs.  Clemmens  before  the  assault, 
or,  indeed,  had  held  any  communication  with  her.  There- 
fore, when  Mansell  declared  that  he  had  never  told 
his  aunt  of  the  attachment  between  himself  and  this 
young  lady,  the  astute  detective  at  once  drew  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  widow  had  never  known  of  that  attachment, 
and  consequently  that  the  words  which  the  prisoner  had 
overheard  must  have  referred,  not  to  himself,  as  he 
supposed,  but  to  some  other  man,  and,  if  to  some  other 
man — why  to  the  only  one  with  whom  Miss  Dare's  name 
was  at  that  time  associated  ;  in  other  words,  to  Mr 
Orcutt  ! 

Now  it  was  not  easy  to  measure  the  importance  of 
a  conclusion  like  this.  For  whilst  there  would  have  been 
nothing  peculiar  in  this  solitary   woman,  with  the  few 


556  HAND   AND    RING. 

thousands  in  the  bank,  boasting  of  her  power  to  separate 
her  nephew  from  the  lady  of  his  choice,  there  was  every 
thing  that  was  significant  in  her  using  the  same  language 
in  regard  to  Miss  Dare  and  Mr.  Orcutt.  Nothing  but 
the  existence  of  some  unsuspected  bond  between  herself 
and  the  great  lawyer  could  have  accounted,  first,  for  her 
feeling  on  the  subject  of  his  marriage  ;  and,  secondly,  for 
the  threat  of  interference  contained  in  her  very  emphatic 
words, — a  bond  which,  while  evidently  not  that  of  love, 
was  still  of  a  nature  to  give  her  control  over  his  destiny, 
and  make  her,  in  spite  of  her  lonely  condition,  the  selfish 
and  determined  arbitrator  of  his  fate. 

What  was  that  bond  ?  A  secret  shared  between  them  ? 
The  knowledge  on  her  part  of  some  fact  in  Mr.  Orcutt's 
past  life,  which,  if  revealed,  might  serve  as  an  impediment 
to  his  marriage  ?  In  consideration  that  the  great  mystery 
to  be  solved  was  what  motive  Mr.  Orcutt  could  have  had 
for  killing  this  woman,  an  answer  to  this  question  was 
manifestly  of  the  first  importance. 

But  before  proceeding  to  take  any  measures  to  insure 
one,  Mr.  Gryce  sat  down  and  seriously  asked  himself 
whether  there  was  any  known  fact,  circumstantial  or 
otherwise,  which  refused  to  fit  into  the  theory  that 
Mr.  Orcutt  actually  committed  this  crime  with  his  own 
hand,  and  at  the  time  he  was  seen  to  cross  the  street  and 
enter  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house.  For,  whereas  the  most 
complete  chain  of  circumstantial  evidence  does  not 
necessarily  prove  the  suspected  party  to  be  guilty  of  a 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  557 

crime,  the  least  break  in  it  is  fatal  to  his  conviction. 
And  Mr.  Gryce  wished  to  be  as  fair  to  the  memory 
of  Mr.  Orcutt  as  he  would  have  been  to  the  living 
man. 

Beginning,  therefore,  with  the  earliest  incidents  of  the 
fatal  day,  he  called  up,  first,  the  letter  which  the  widow 
had  commenced  but  never  lived  to  finish.     It  was  a  sug- 
gestive epistle.     It  was  addressed  to  her  most  intimate 
friend,  and  showed  in  the  few  lines  written  a  certain  fore- 
boding or  apprehension  of  death  remarkable   under  the 
circumstances.     Mr.   Gryce  recalled  one  of   its   expres- 
sions.    "  There  are  so  many,"  wrote  she,  "  to  whom  my 
death  would  be  more  than  welcome."     So  many  !     Many 
is  a  strong  word  ;  many  means  more  than  one,  more  than 
two  ;  many  means  //iree  at  least.     Now  where  were  the 
three  ?      Hildreth,  of   course,  was   one,    Mansell   might 
very  properly  be  another,  but  who  was  the  third  ?     To 
Mr.  Gryce,  but  one  name  suggested  itself  in  reply.     So 
far,  then,  his  theory  stood  firm.     Now  what  was  the  next 
fact  known  ?     The  milkman  stopped  with  his  milk  ;   that 
was  at  half-past  eleven.     He  had  to  wait  a  few  minutes, 
from  which  it  was  concluded  she  was  upstairs  when  he 
rapped.     Was  it  at  this  time  she  was  interrupted  in  her 
letter-writing  ?     If  so,  she  probably  did  not  go  back  to  it, 
for  when  Mr.  Hildreth  called,  some  fifteen  minutes  later, 
she  was  on  the  spot  to  open  the  door.     Their  interview 
was  short ;    it  was  also  stormy.     Medicine  was  the  last 
thing  she  stood  in  need  of :  besides,  her  mind  was  evi- 


558  HAND   AND   RING. 

dently  preoccupied.  Showing  him  the  door,  she  goes 
back  to  her  work,  and,  being  deaf,  does  not  notice  that 
he  does  not  leave  the  house  as  she  expected.  Conse- 
quently her  thoughts  go  on  unhindered,  and,  her  condi- 
tion being  one  of  anger,  she  mutters  aloud  and  bitterly  to 
herself  as  she  flits  from  dining-room  to  kitchen  in  her 
labor  of  serving  up  her  dinner.  The  words  she  made  use 
of  have  been  overheard,  and  here  another  point  appears. 
For,  whereas  her  temper  must  have  been  disturbed  by 
the  demand  which  had  been  made  upon  her  the  day 
before  by  her  favorite  relative  and  heir,  her  expressions 
of  wrath  at  this  moment  were  not  levelled  against  him, 
but  against  a  young  lady  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 
stranger  to  her,  her  language  being  :  "  You  think  you  are 
going  to  marry  him,  Imogene  Dare  ;  but  I  tell  you  you 
never  shall,  not  while  I  live."  Her  chief  grievance,  then, 
and  the  one  thing  uppermost  in  her  thoughts,  even  at  a 
time  when  she  felt  that  there  were  many  who  desired  her 
death,  lay  in  this  fact  that  a  young  and  beautiful  woman 
had  manifested,  as  she  supposed,  a  wish  to  marry  Mr. 
Orcutt,  the  word  /ii'm  which  she  had  used,  necessarily  re- 
ferring to  the  lawyer,  as  she  knew  nothing  of  Imogene's- 
passion  for  her  nephew. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  point  into  which  it  is  necessary 
to  inquire.  For  to  believe  Mr.  Orcutt  guilty  of  this 
crime  one  most  also  believe  that  all  the  other  persons 
who  had  been  accused  of  it  were  truthful  in  the  explana- 
tions which  they  gave  of  the  events  which  had  seemingly 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  559 

connected  them  with  it.  Now,  were  they?  Take  the 
occurrences  of  that  critical  moment  when  the  clock  stood 
at  five  minutes  to  twelve.  If  Mr.  Hildreth  is  to  be  be- 
lieved, he  was  at  that  instant  in  the  widow's  front  hall 
musing  on  his  disappointment  and  arranging  his  plans 
for  the  future  ;  the  tramp,  if  those  who  profess  to  have 
watched  him  are  to  be  believed,  was  on  the  kitchen 
portico  ;  Craik  Mansell  on  the  dining-room  door-step  ; 
Imogene  Dare  before  her  telescope  in  Professor  Darling's 
observatory.  Mr.  Hildreth,  with  two  doors  closed  be- 
tween him  and  the  back  of  the  house,  knew  nothing  of 
what  was  said  or  done  there,  but  the  tramp  heard  loud 
talking,  and  Craik  Mansell  the  actual  voice  of  the  widow 
raised  in  words  which  were  calculated  to  mislead  him 
into  thinking  she  was  engaged  in  angry  altercation  with 
the  woman  he  loved.  What  do  all  three  do,  then  ?  Mr. 
Hildreth  remains  where  he  is  ;  the  tramp  skulks  away 
through  the  front  gate  ;  Craik  Mansell  rushes  back  to 
the  woods.  And  Imogene  Dare  ?  She  has  turned  her 
telescope  toward  Mrs.  Clemmens'  cottage,  and,  being 
on  the  side  of  the  dining-room  door,  sees  the  flying  form 
of  Craik  Mansell,  and  marks  it  till  it  disappears  from  her 
sight.  Is  there  any  thing  contradictory  in  these  various 
statements  ?  No.  Every  thing,  on  the  contrary,  that  is 
reconcilable. 

Let  us  proceed  then.  What  happens  a  few  minutes 
later?  Mr.  Hildreth,  tired  of  seclusion  and  anxious  to 
catch  the  train,  opens  the  front  door  and  steps  out.     The 


560  HAND   AND    RING. 

tramp,  skulking  round  some  other  back  door,  does  not 
see  him  ;  Imogene,  with  her  eye  on  Craik  Mansell,  now 
vanishing  into  the  woods,  does  not  see  him  ;  nobody  sees 
him.  He  goes,  and  the  widow  for  a  short  interval  is  as 
much  alone  as  she  believed  herself  to  be  a  minute  or  two 
before  when  three  men  stood,  unseen  by  each  other,  at 
each  of  the  three  doors  of  her  house.  What  does  she  do 
now  ? 

Why,  she  finishes  preparing  her  dinner,  and  then, 
observing  that  the  clock  is  slow,  proceeds  to  set  it  right. 
Fatal  task  !  Before  she  has  had  an  opportunity  to  finish 
it,  the  front  door  has  opened  again,  Mr.  Orcutt  has  come 
in,  and,  tempted  perhaps  by  her  defenceless  position, 
catches  up  a  stick  of  wood  from  the  fireplace  and,  with 
one  blow,  strikes  her  down  at  his  feet,  and  rushes  forth 
again  with  tidings  of  her  death. 

Now,  is  there  any  thing  in  all  this  that  is  contradictory  ? 
No  ;  there  is  only  something  left  out.  In  the  whole  of 
this  description  of  what  went  on  in  the  widow's  house, 
there  has  been  no  mention  made  of  the  ring — the  ring 
which  it  is  conceded  was  either  in  Craik  Mansell's  or 
Imogene  Dare's  possession  the  evening  before  the  murder, 
and  which  was  found  on  the  dining-room  floor  within  ten 
minutes  after  the  assault  took  place.  If  Mrs.  Clemmens' 
exclamations  are  to  be  taken  as  an  attempt  to  describe 
her  murderer,  then  this  ring  must  have  been  on  the  hand 
which  was  raised  against  her,  and  how  could  that  have 
been  if  the  hand  was  that  of  Mr.  Orcutt  ?     Unimportant 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  561 

as  it  seemed,  the  discovery  of  this  ring  on  the  floor,  taken 
with  the  exclamations  of  the  widow,  make  a  break  in  the 
chain  that  is  fatal  to  Mr.  Gryce's  theory.  Yet  does  it  ? 
The  consternation  displayed  by  Mr.  Orcutt  when  Imo- 
gene  claimed  the  ring  and  put  it  on  her  finger  may  have 
had  a  deeper  significance  than  was  thought  at  the  time. 
Was  there  any  way  in  which  he  could  have  come  into 
possession  of  it  before  she  did  ?  and  could  it  have  been 
that  he  had  had  it  on  his  hand  when  he  struck  the  blow  ? 
Mr.  Gryce  bent  all  his  energies  to  inquire. 

First,  where  was  the  ring  when  the  lovers  parted  in  the 
wood  the  day  before  the  murder  ?  Evidently  in  Mr. 
Mansell's  coat-pocket.  Imogene  had  put  it  there,  and 
Imogene  had  left  it  there.  But  Mansell  did  not  know  it 
was  there,  so  took  no  pains  to  look  after  its  safety.  It 
accordingly  slipped  out ;  but  when  ?  Not  while  he  slept, 
or  it  would  have  been  found  in  the  hut.  Not  while  he 
took  the  path  to  his  aunt's  house,  or  it  would  have  been 
found  in  the  lane,  or,  at  best,  on  the  dining-room  door- 
step. When,  then  ?  Mr,  Gryce  could  think  of  but  one 
instant,  and  that  was  when  the  young  man  threw  his 
coat  from  one  arm  to  the  other  at  the  corner  of  the  house 
toward  the  street.  If  it  rolled  out  then  it  would  have 
been  under  an  impetus,  and,  as  the  coat  was  flung  from 
the  right  arm  to  the  left,  the  ring  would  have  flown  in  the 
direction  of  the  gate  and  fallen,  perhaps,  directly  on  the 
walk  in  front  of  the  house.  If  it  had,  its  presence  in  the 
dining-room  seemed  to  show  it  had  been  carried  there  by 


562  HAND   AND    RING. 

Mr.  Orcutt,  since  he  was  the  next  person  who  went  into 
the  house. 

But  did  it  fall  there  ?  Mr.  Gryce  took  the  only  avail- 
able means  to  find  out. 

Sending  for  Horace  Byrd,  he  said  to  him  : 

"  You  were  on  the  court-house  steps  when  Mr.  Orcutt 
left  and  crossed  over  to  the  widow's  house  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Were  you  watching  him  ?  Could  you  describe  his 
manner  as  he  entered  the  house  ;  how  he  opened  the 
gate  ;  or  whether  he  stopped  to  look  about  him  before 
going  in  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  returned  Byrd  ;  "  my  eyes  may  have  been  on 
him,  but  I  don't  remember  any  thing  especial  that  he  did." 

Somewhat  disappointed,  Mr.  Gryce  went  to  the  Dis- 
trict Attorney  and  put  to  him  the  same  question.  The 
answer  he  received  from  him  was  different.  With  a 
gloomy  contraction  of  his  brow,  Mr.  Ferris  said  : 

"  Yes,  I  remember  his  look  and  appearance  very  well. 
He    stepped   briskly,    as    he    always    did,    and    carried 

his  head Wait  !  "  he  suddenly  exclaimed,  giving  the 

detective  a  look  in  which  excitement  and  decision  were 
strangely  blended.  "  You  think  Mr.  Orcutt  committed 
this  crime  ;  that  he  left  us  standing  on  the  court-house 
steps  and  crossed  the  street  to  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house 
with  the  deliberate  intention  of  killing  her,  and  leaving 
the  burden  of  his  guilt  to  be  shouldered  by  the  tramp. 
Now,  you  have  called  up  a  memory  to  me  that  convinces 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  563 

me  this  could  not  have  been.  Had  he  had  any  such  in- 
fernal design  in  his  breast  he  would  not  have  been  likely 
to  have  stopped  as  he  did  to  pick  up  something  which  he 
saw  lying  on  the  walk  in  front  of  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house." 
"  And  did  Mr.  Orcutt  do  that  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Gryce, 
with  admirable  self-control. 

"  Yes,  I  remember  it  now  distinctly.  It  was  just  as  he 
entered  the  gate.  A  man  meditating  a  murder  of  this 
sort  would  not  be  likely  to  notice  a  pin  lying  in  his  path, 
much  less  pause  to  pick  it  up." 

"  How  if  it  were  a  diamond  ring  ?  " 
"  A  diamond  ring  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Ferris,"  said  the  detective,  gravely,  "  you  have 
just  supplied  a  very  important  link  in  the  chain  of  evi- 
dence against  Mr.  Orcutt.  The  question  is,  how  could 
the  diamond  ring  which  Miss  Dare  is  believed  to  have 
dropped  into  Mr.  Mansell's  coat-pocket  have  been  carried 
into  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house  without  the  agency  of  either 
herself  or  Mr.  Mansell  ?  I  think  you  have  just  shown." 
And  the  able  detective,  in  a  few  brief  sentences,  explained 
the  situation  to  Mr.  Ferris,  together  with  the  circum- 
stances of  Mansell's  flight,  as  gleaned  by  him  in  his  con- 
versation with  the  prisoner. 

The  District  Attorney  was  sincerely  dismayed.  The 
guilt  of  the  renowned  lawyer  was  certainly  assuming  pos- 
itive proportions.  Yet,  true  to  his  friendship  for  Mr.  Or- 
cutt, he  made  one  final  effort  to  controvert  the  arguments 
of  the  detective,  and  quietly  said  : 


564  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  You  profess  to  explain  how  the  ring  might  have  been 
carried  into  Mrs.  Clemmens'  house,  but  how  do  you 
account  for  the  widow  having  used  an  exclamation 
which  seems  to  signify  it  was  on  the  hand  which  she 
saw  lifted  against  her  life  ?  " 

"By  the  fact  that  it  was  on  that  hand." 

"  Do  you  think  that  probable  if  the  hand  was  Mr. 
Orcutt's  ?  " 

**  Perfectly  so.  Where  else  would  he  be  likely  to  put 
it  in  the  preoccupied  state  of  mind  in  which  he  was  ?  In 
his  pocket  ?  The  tramp  might  have  done  that,  but  not 
the  gentleman." 

Mr.  Ferris  looked  at  the  detective  with  almost  an  ex- 
pression of  fear. 

"And  how  came  it  to  be  on  the  floor  if  Mr.  Orcutt  put 
it  on  his  finger?  " 

"  By  the  most  natural  process  in  the  world.  The  ring 
made  for  Miss  Dare's  third  finger  was  too  large  for 
Mr.  Orcutt's  little  finger,  and  so  slipped  off  when  he 
dropped  the  stick  of  wood  from  his  hand." 

"  And  he  left  it  lying  where  it  fell  ?  " 

"  He  probably  did  not  notice  its  loss.  If,  as  I  sup- 
pose, he  had  picked  it  up  and  placed  it  on  %is  finger, 
mechanically,  its  absence  at  such  a  moment  would  not  be 
observed.  Besides,  what  clue  could  he  suppose  a 
diamond  ring  he  had  never  seen  before,  and  which  he 
had  had  on  his  finger  but  an  instant,  would  offer  in 
a  case  like  this  ?" 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  565 

"  You  reason  close,"  said  the  District  Attorney  ;  "  too 
close,"  he  added,  as  he  recalled,  with  painful  distinctness, 
the  look  and  attitude  of  Mr.  Orcutt  at  the  time  this 
ring  was  first  brought  into  public  notice,  and  realized  that 
so  might  a  man  comport  himself  who,  conscious  of  this 
ring's  association  with  the  crime  he  had  just  secretly  per- 
petrated, sees  it  claimed  and  put  on  the  finger  of  the  wo- 
man he  loves. 

Mr.  Gyrce,  with  his  usual  intuition,  seemed  to  follow 
the  thoughts  of  the  District  Attorney. 

*'  If  oiiir  surmises  are  correct,"  he  remarked,  "  it  was  a 
grim  moment  for  the  lawyer  when,  secure  in  his  immunity 
from  suspicion,  he  saw  Miss  Dare  come  upon  the  scene 
with  eager  inquiries  concerning  this  murder.  To  you, 
who  had  not  the  clue,  it  looked  as  if  he  feared  she  was 
not  as  innocent  as  she  should  be  ;  but,  if  you  will  re- 
call the  situation  now,  I  think  you  will  see  that  his  agita- 
tion can  only  be  explained  by  his  apprehension  of  her 
intuitions  and  an  alarm  lest  her  interest  sprang  from  some 
mysterious  doubt  of  himself." 

Mr.  Ferris  shook  his  head  with  a  gloomy  air,  but 
did  not  respond. 

"  Miss  'Dare  tells  me,"  the  detective  resumed,  "  that  his 
first  act  upon  their  meeting  again  at  his  house  was  to 
offer  himself  to  her  in  marriage.  Now  you,  or  any  one 
else,  would  say  this  was  to  show  he  did  not  mistrust  her, 
but  I  say  it  was  to  find  out  if  she  mistrusted  him." 

Still  Mr.  Ferris  remained  silent. 


566  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  The  same  reasoning  will  apply  to  what  followed," 
continued  Mr.  Gryce.  "  You  cannot  reconcile  the 
thought  of  his  guilt  with  his  taking  the  case  of  Mansell 
and  doing  all  he  could  to  secure  his  acquittal.  But  you 
will  find  it  easier  to  do  so  when  I  tell  you  that,  without 
taking  into  consideration  any  spark  of  sympathy  which  he 
might  feel  for  the  man  falsely  accused  of  his  crime,  he 
knew  from  Imogene's  lips  that  she  would  not  survive  the 
condemnation  of  her  lover,  and  that,  besides  this,  his 
only  hope  of  winning  her  for  his  wife  lay  in  the  gratitude 
he  might  awaken  in  her  if  he  succeeded  in  saving  his 
rival." 

"You  are  making  him  out  a  great  villain,"  murmured 
Mr.  Ferris,  bitterly. 

"  And  was  not  that  the  language  of  his  own  counte- 
nance as  he  lay  dying  ?  "  inquired  the  detective. 

Mr.  Ferris  could  not  say  No.  He  had  himself  been 
too  deeply  impressed  by  the  sinister  look  he  had  observed 
on  the  face  of  his  dying  friend.  He  therefore  confined 
himself  to  remarking,  not  without  sarcasm  : 

"  And  now  for  the  motive  of  this  hideous  crime — for  I 
suppose  your  ingenuity  has  discovered  one  before  this." 

"  It  will  be  found  in  his  love  for  Miss  Dare,"  returned 
the  detective  ;  "but  just  how  I  am  not  prepared  lo-day 
to  say." 

"  His  love  for  Miss  Dare  ?  What  had  this  plain  and 
homespun  Mrs.  Clemmens  to  do  with  his  love  for 
Miss  Dare  ? " 


THE   SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  567 

"  She  was  an  interference." 

"  How  ? " 

"  Ah,  that,  sir,  is  the  question." 

"  So  then  you  do  not  know  ?  " 

Mr.  Gryce  was  obliged  to  shake  his  head. 

The  District  Attorney  drew  himself  up.  "  Mr.  Gryce," 
said  he,  *'  the  charge  which  has  been  made  against  this 
eminent  man  demands  the  very  strongest  proof  in  order 
to  substantiate  it.  The  motive,  especially,  must  be  shown 
to  have  been  such  as  to  offer  a  complete  excuse  for  sus- 
pecting him.  No  trivial  or  imaginary  reason  for  his 
wishing  this  woman  out  of  the  world  will  answer  in  his  case. 
You  must  prove  that  her  death  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
the  success  of  his  dearest  hopes,  or  your  reasoning  will 
only  awaken  distrust  in  the  minds  of  all  who  hear  it. 
The  fame  of  a  man  like  Mr.  Orcutt  is  not  to  be  destroyed 
by  a  passing  word  of  delirium,  or  a  specious  display  of 
circumstantial  evidence  such  as  you  evolve  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  ring  on  the  scene  of  murder." 

'■  I  know  it,"  allowed  Mr.  Gryce,  "  and  that  is  why  I 
have  asked  for  a  week." 

"  Then  you  still  believe  you  can  find  such  a  motive  ?  " 

The  smile  which  Mr.  Gryce  bestowed  upon  the  favored 
object  then  honored  by  his  gaze  haunted  the  District  At- 
torney for  the  rest  of  the  week. 


568  HAND   AND   RING. 


XLII. 


CONSULTATIONS. 


That  he  should  die  is  worthy  policy  ; 

But  yet  we  want  a  color  for  his  death  ; 

'T  is  meet  he  be  condemned  by  course  of  law. 

— Henry  VI. 

MR.  GRYCE  was  perfectly  aware  that  the  task 
before  him  was  a  difficult  one.  To  be  himself 
convinced  that  Mr.  Orcutt  had  been  in  possession  of  a 
motive  sufficient  to  account  for,  if  not  excuse,  this  horri- 
ble crime  was  one  thing  ;  to  find  out  that  motive  and 
make  it  apparent  to  the  world  was  another.  But  he  was 
not  discouraged.  Summoning  his  two  subordinates,  he 
laid  the  matter  before  them. 

"  I  am  convinced,"  said  he,  "  that  Mrs.  Clemmenswas 
a  more  important  person  to  Mr.  Orcutt  than  her  plain  ap- 
pearance and  humble  manner  of  life  would  suggest.  Do 
either  of  you  know  whether  Mr.  Orcutt's  name  has  ever 
been  associated  with  any  private  scandal,  the  knowledge 
of  which  might  have  given  her  power  over  him  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  think  he  was  that  kind  of  a  man,"  said 
Byrd.  "  Since  morning  I  have  put  myself  in  the  way  of 
such  persons  as  I  saw  disposed  to  converse  about  him, 
and  though  I  have  been  astonished  to  find  how  many 
there  are  who  say  they  never  quite  liked  or  altogether 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  569 

trusted  this  famous  lawyer,  I  have  heard  nothing  said  in 
any  way  derogatory  to  his  private  character.  Indeed,  I 
believe,  as  far  as  the  ladies  were  concerned,  he  was  par- 
ticularly reserved.  Though  a  bachelor,  he  showed  no 
disposition  to  marry,  and  until  Miss  Dare  appeared  on 
the  scene  was  not  known  to  be  even  attentive  to  one  of 
her  sex." 

"  Some  one,  however,  I  forget  who,  told  me  that  for  a 
short  time  he  was  sweet  on  a  certain  Miss  Pratt,"  re- 
marked Hickory. 

"  Pratt  ?  Where  have  I  heard  that  name  ? "  murmured 
Byrd  to  himself. 

" But  nothing  came  of  it,"  Hickory  continued.     "She 
was  not  over  and   above   smart   they    say,    and   though 
pretty  enough,  did  not  hold  his  fancy.     Some  folks  de-'^ 
clare  she  was  so  disappointed  she  left  town." 

"Pratt,  Pratt  !  "  repeated  Byrd  to  himself.  "  Ah  !  I 
know  now,"  he  suddenly  exclaimed.  "  While  I  stood 
around  amongst  the  crowd,  the  morning  Mrs.  Clemmens 
was  murdered,  I  remember  overhearing  some  one  say 
how  hard  she  was  on  the  Pratt  girl." 

"  Humph  !  "  ejaculated  Mr.  Gryce.  "  The  widow  was 
hard  on  any  one  Mr.  Orcutt  chose  to  admire." 

"  I  don't  understand  it,"  said  Byrd. 

"  Nor  I,"  rejoined  Mr.  Gryce  ;  "  but  I  intend  to  before 
the  week  is  out."  Then  abruptly  :  "  When  did  Mrs. 
Clemmens  come  to  this  town  ?" 

"  Fifteen  years  ago,"  replied  Byrd. 


570  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  And  Orcutt — when  did  he  first  put  in  an  appearance 
here  ? " 

"  At  very  much  the  same  time,  I  believe." 

"  Humph  !  And  did  they  seem  to  be  friends  at  that 
time  ?  " 

**  Some  say  Yes,  some  say  No." 

*'  Where  did  he  come  from — have  you  learned  ?  " 

"  From  some  place  in  Nebraska,  I  believe." 

"  And  she  ?  " 

"Why,  she  came  from  some  place  in  Nebraska  too  !" 

"  The  same  place  ? " 

"  That  we  must  find  out." 

"  Mr.  Gryce  mused  for  a  minute  ;  then  he  observed  : 

"  Mr.  Orcutt  was  renowned  in  his  profession.  Do  you 
•  know  any  thing  about  his  career — whether  he  brought  a 
reputation  for  ability  with  him,  or  whether  his  fame  was 
entirely  made  in  this  place  ?  " 

"  I  think  it  was  made  here.  Indeed,  I  have  heard  that 
it  was  in  this  court  he  pleaded  his  first  case.  Don't  you 
know  more  about  it.  Hickory  ?  " 

"Yes;  Mr.  Ferris  told  me  this  morning  that  Orcutt 
had  not  opened  a  law-book  when  he  came  to  this  town. 
That  he  was  a  country  schoolmaster  in  some  uncivilized 
district  out  West,  and  would  never  have  been  any  thing 
more,  perhaps,  if  the  son  of  old  Stephen  Orcutt  had  not 
died,  and  thus  made  a  vacancy  in  the  law-office  here 
which  he  was  immediately  sent  for  to  fill." 

"  Stephen  Orcutt  ?  He  was  the  uncle  of  this  man, 
was  n't  he  ?" 


THE   SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  57I 

"Yes." 

"  And  quite  a  lawyer  too  ? " 

"  Yes,  but  nothing  like  Tremont  B.  I/e  was  successful 
from  the  start.  Had  a  natural  aptitude,  I  suppose — must 
have  had,  to  pick  up  the  profession  in  the  way  he  did." 

"Boys,"  cried  Mr.  Gryce,  after  another  short  rumina- 
tive pause,  "  the  secret  we  want  to  know  is  of  long  stand- 
ing ;  indeed,  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  it  were  con- 
nected with  his  life  out  West.  I  will  tell  you  why  I  think 
so.  For  ten  years  Mrs.  Clemmens  has  been  known  to 
put  money  in  the  bank  regularly  every  week.  Now, 
where  'did  she  get  that  money  ?  From  Mr.  Orcutt,  of 
course.  What  for  ?  In  payment  for  the  dinner  he  usually 
took  with  her  ?  No,  in  payment  of  her  silence  concerning 
a  past  he  desired  kept  secret," 

"  But  they  have  been  here  fifteen  years  and  she  has 
only  received  money  for  ten." 

"  She  has  only  put  money  in  the  bank  for  ten  ;  she 
may  have  been  paid  before  that  and  may  not.  I  do  not 
suppose  he  was  in  a  condition  to  be  very  lavish  at  the 
outset  of  his  career." 

"  You  advise  us,  then,  to  see  what  we  can  make  out  of 
his  early  life  out  West  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  and  I  will  see  what  I  can  make  out  of  hers. 
The  link  which  connects  the  two  will  be  found.  Mr. 
Orcutt  did  not  say  :  *  It  was  all  for  you,  Imogene,'  for 
nothing." 

And,  dismissing  the  two  young  men,  Mr.  Gryce  pro- 


572  HAND   AND    RING. 

ceeded  to  the  house  of  Ivct.  Orcutt,  where  he  entered 
upon  an  examination  of  such  papers  and  documents  as 
were  open  to  his  inspection,  in  the  hope  of  discovering 
some  allusion  to  the  deceased  lawyer's  early  history. 
But  he  was  not  successful.  Neither  did  a  like  inspection 
of  the  widow's  letters  bring  any  new  facts  to  light.  The 
only  result  which  seemed  to  follow  these  efforts  was  an 
increased  certainty  on  his  part  that  some  dangerous  secret 
lurked  in  a  past  that  was  so  determinedly  hidden  from 
the  world,  and  resorting  to  the  only  expedient  now  left  to 
him,  he  resolved  to  consult  Miss  Firman,  as  being  the 
only  person  who  professed  to  have  had  any  acquafntance 
with  Mrs.  Clemmens  before  she  came  to  Sibley.  To  be 
sure,  she  had  already  been  questioned  by  the  coroner, 
but  Mr.  Gryce  was  a  man  who  had  always  found  that  the 
dryest  well  could  be  made  to  yield  a  drop  or  two  more  of 
water  if  the  bucket  was  dropped  by  a  dexterous  hand. 
He  accordingly  prepared  himself  for  a  trip  to  Utica, 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  573 


XLTII. 


MRS.  FIRMAN. 


Hark  !    she  speaks.      I   will    set  down   what  comes    from  her 

Heaven  knows  what  she  has  known.— Macbeth. 

MISS  FIRMAN,  I  believe  ?  "  The  staid,  pleasant- 
faced  lady  whom  we  know,  but  who  is  looking 
older  and  considerably  more  careworn  than  when  we 
saw  her  at  the  coroner's  inquest,  rose  from  her  chair 
in  her  own  cozy  sitting-room,  and  surveyed  her  visitor 
curiously.  "  I  am  Mr,  Gryce,"  the  genial  voice  went  on, 
"  Perhaps  the  name  is  not  familiar  ?  " 

"  I  never  heard  it  before,"  v/as  the  short  but  not 
ungracious  reply. 

"  Well,  then,  let  me  explain,"  said  he,  "  You  are  a 
relative  of  the  Mrs.  Clemmens  who  was  so  foully  mur- 
dered in  Sibley,  are  you  not  ?  Pardon  me,  but  I  see  you 
are  ;  your  expression  speaks  for  itself."  How  he  could 
have  seen  her  expression  was  a  mystery  to  Miss  Firman, 
for  his  eyes,  if  not  attention,  were  seemingly  fixed  upon 
some  object  in  quite  a  different  portion  of  the  room. 
"You  must,  therefore,"  he  pursued,  "  be  in  a  state 
of  great  anxiety  to  know  who  her  murderer  was.  Now, 
I  am  in  that  same  state,  madam  ;  we  are,  therefore, 
in  sympathy,  you  see," 


574  HAND   AND   RING. 

The  respectful  smile  and  peculiar  intonation  with 
which  these  last  words  were  uttered,  robbed  them  of 
their  familiarity  and  allowed  Miss  Firman  to  perceive  his 
true  character. 

"You  are  a  detective,"  said  she,  and  as  he  did  not 
deny  it,  she  went  on  :  "  You  say  I  must  be  anxious  to 
know  who  my  cousin's  murderer  was.  Has  Craik  Man- 
sell,  then,  been  acquitted  ?  " 

"  A  verdict  has  not  been  given,"  said  the  other.  "  His 
trial  has  been  adjourned  in  order  to  give  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  choose  a  new  counsel." 

Miss  Firman  motioned  her  visitor  to  be  seated,  and  at 
once  took  a  chair  herself. 

"  What  do  you  want  with  me  ?  "  she  asked,  with  char- 
acteristic bluntness. 

The  detective  was  silent.  It  was  but  for  a  moment, 
but  in  that  moment  he  seemed  to  read  to  the  bottom  of 
this  woman's  mind. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  will  tell  you.  You  believe  Craik 
Mansell  to  be  innocent  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  she  returned. 

"  Very  well  ;  so  do  I." 

"Let  me  shake  hands  with  you,"  was  her  abrupt  re- 
mark. And  without  a  smile  she  reached  forth  her  hand, 
which  he  took  with  equal  gravity. 

This  ceremony  over,  he  remarked,  with  a  cheerful 
mien  : 

"  We  are  fortunately  not  in  a  court  of  law,  and  so  can 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  575 

talk  freely  together.  Why  do  you  think  Mansell  inno- 
cent ?  I  am  sure  the  evidence  has  not  been  much 
in  his  favor." 

"  Why  do  you  think  him  innocent  ? "  was  the  brisk 
retort. 

"  I  have  talked  with  him." 

"  Ah  !  " 

"  I  have  talked  with  Miss  Dare." 

A  different  "  Ah  !  "  this  time. 

"And  I  was  present  when  Mr.  Orcutt  breathed  his 
last." 

The  look  she  gave  was  like  cold  water  on  Mr.  Gryce's 
secretly  growing  hopes. 

"What  has  that  to  do  with  it  ?"  she  wonderingly  ex- 
claimed. 

The  detective  took  another  tone. 

"  You  did  not  know  Mr.  Orcutt  then  ? "  he  in- 
quired. 

"  I  had  not  that  honor,"  was  the  formal  reply. 

"  You  have  never,  then,  visited  your  cousin  in 
Sibley  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  was  there  once  ;  but  that  did  not  give  me  an 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Orcutt." 

"  Yet  he  went  almost  every  day  to  her  house." 

"  And  he  came  while  I  was  there,  but  that  did  not  give 
me  an  acquaintance  with  him." 

"  He  was  reserved,  then,  in  his  manners,  uncommuni- 
cative, possibly  morose  ? " 


576  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  He  was  just  what  I  would  expect  such  a  gentle- 
man to  be  at  the  table  with  women  like  my  cousin 
and  myself." 

"Not  morose,  then  ;  only  reserved." 

"  Exactly,"  the  short,  quick  bow  of  the  amiable  spin- 
ster seemed  to  assert. 

Mr.  Gryce  drew  a  deep  breath.  This  well  seemed  to 
be  destitute  of  even  a  drop  of  moisture. 

"  Why  do  you  ask  me  about  Mr.  Orcutt  ?  Has  his 
death  in  any  way  affected  young  Mansell's  pros- 
pects ? " 

"That  is  what  I  want  to  find  out,"  declared  Mr. 
Gryce.  Then,  without  giving  her  time  for  another  ques- 
tion, said  :  "  Where  did  Mrs.  Clemmens  first  make  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Orcutt  ?  Was  n't  it  in  some  town 
out  West  ?  " 

"  Out  West  ?  Not  to  my  knowledge,  sir.  I  always 
supposed  she  saw  him  first  in  Sibley." 

This  well  was  certainly  very  dry. 

"  Yet  you  are  not  positive  that  this  is  so,  are  you  ?  " 
pursued  the  patient  detective.  "  She  came  from  Ne- 
braska, and  so  did  he  ;  now,  why  may  they  not  have 
known  each  other  there  ?  " 

"I  did  not  know  that  he  came  from  Nebraska." 

"  She  has  never  talked  about  him  then  ?  " 

"  Never." 

Mr.  Gryce  drew  another  deep  bieath  and  let  down  his 
bucket  again. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  57/ 

"  I  thought  your  cousin  spent  her  childhood  in 
Toledo  ? " 

"  She  did,  sir." 

"  How  came  she  to  go  to  Nebraska  then  ?  " 

"  Well,  she  was  left  an  orphan  and  had  to  look  out  for 
herself.  A  situation  in  some  way  opened  to  her  in  Ne- 
braska, and  she  went  there  to  take  it." 

"  A  situation  at  what  ?  " 

"As  waitress  in  some  hotel." 

"  Humph  !  And  was  she  still  a  waitress  when  she  mar- 
ried ?  " 

"Yes,  I  think  so,  but  I  am  not  sure  about  it  or  any 
thing  else  in  connection  with  her  at  that  time.  The  sub- 
ject was  so  painful  we  never  discussed  it." 

"  Why  painful  ?  " 

"She  lost  her  husband  so  soon." 

"  But  you  can  tell  me  the  name  of  the  town  in  which 
this  hotel  was,  can  you  not  ?  " 

"It  was  called  Swanson  then,  but  that  was  fifteen 
years  ago.     Its  name  may  have  been  changed   since." 

Swanson  !  This  was  something  to  learn,  but  not  much. 
Mr.  Gryce  returned  to  his  first  question.  "  You  have 
not  told  me,"  said  he,  "why  you  believe  Craik  Mansell 
to  be  innocent  ?  " 

"  Well,"  replied  she,  "  /  believe  Craik  Mansell  to  be 
innocent  because  he  is  the  son  of  his  mother.  I  think  I 
know  him  pretty  well,  but  I  am  certain  I  knew  her.  She 
was  a  woman  who  would  go  through  fire  and  water  to 


578  HAND   AND    RING. 

attain  a  purpose  she  thought  right,  but  who  would  stop 
in  the  midst  of  any  project  the  moment  she  felt  the  least 
doubt  of  its  being  just  or  wise.  Craik  has  his  mother's 
forehead  and  eyes,  and  no  one  will  ever  make  me  believe 
he  has  not  her  principles  also." 

"  I  coincide  with  you,  madam,"  remarked  the  atten- 
tive detective. 

"  I  hope  the  jury  will,"  was  her  energetic  response. 

He  bowed  and  was  about  to  attempt  another  question, 
when  an  interruption  occurred.  J^Iiss  Firman  was  called 
from  the  room,  and  Mr.  Gryce  found  himself  left  for  a 
few  moments  alone.  His  thoughts,  as  he  awaited  her  re- 
turn, were  far  from  cheerful,  for  he  saw  a  long  and 
tedious  line  of  inquiry  opening  before  him  in  the  West, 
which,  if  it  did  not  end  in  failure,  promised  to  exhaust 
not  only  a  week,  bnt  possibly  many  months,  before  cer- 
tainty of  any  kind  could  be  obtained.  With  Miss  Dare 
on  the  verge  of  a  fever,  and  Mansell  in  a  position  calling 
for  the  utmost  nerve  and  self-control,  this  prospect 
looked  any  thing  but  attractive  to  the  benevolent  detec- 
tive ;  and,  carried  away  by  his  impatience,  he  was  about 
to  give  utterance  to  an  angry  ejaculation  against  the  man 
he  believed  to  be  the  author  of  all  this  mischief,  when  he 
suddenly  heard  a  voice  raised  from  some  unknown  quar- 
ter near  by,  saying  in  strange  tones  he  was  positive  did 
not  proceed  from  Miss  Firman  : 

"  Was  it  Clemmens  or  was  it  Orcutt  ?  Clemmens  or 
Orcutt  ?     I  cannot  remember." 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  579 

Naturally  excited  and  aroused,  Mr.  Gryce  rose  and 
looked  about  him.  A  door  stood  ajar  at  his  back. 
Hastening  toward  it,  he  was  about  to  lay  his  hand  on 
the  knob  when  Miss  Firman  returned. 

"  Oh,  I  beg  you,"  she  entreated.  "  That  is  my 
mother's  room,  and  she  is  not  at  all  well." 

"  I  was  going  to  her  assistance,"  asserted  the  detec- 
tive, with  grave  composure.  "  She  has  just  uttered  a 
cry." 

"  Oh,  you  don't  say  so  !  "  exclaimed  the  unsuspicious 
spinster,  and  hurrying  forward,  she  threw  open  the  door 
herself.  Mr.  Gryce  benevolently  followed.  "  Why,  she 
is  asleep,"  protested  Miss  Firman,  turning  on  the  detec- 
tive with  a  suspicious  look. 

Mr.  Gryce,  with  a  glance  toward  the  bed  he  saw  before 
him,  bowed  with  seeming  perplexity. 

"  She  certainly  appears  to  be,"  said  he,  "  and  yet  I  am 
positive  she  spoke  but  an  instant  ago  ;  I  can  even  tell  you 
the  words  she  used." 

"  What  were  they  ?  "  asked  the  spinster,  with  something 
like  a  look  of  concern. 

"  She  said  :  '  Was  it  Clemmens  or  was  it  Orcutt  ?  Clem- 
mens  or  Orcutt  ?     I  cannot  remember.'  " 

"  You  don't  say  so  !  Poor  ma  !  She  was  dreaming. 
Come  into  the  other  room  and  I  will  explain," 

And  leading  the  way  back  to  the  apartment  they  had 
left,  she  motioned  him  again  toward  a  chair,  and  then 
said  : 


580  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  Ma  has  always  been  a  very  hale  and  active  woman  for 
her  years  ;  but  this  murder  seems  to  have  shaken  her.  To 
speak  the  truth,  sir,  she  has  not  been  quite  right  in  her 
mind  since  the  day  I  told  her  of  it  ;  and  I  often  detect 
her  murmuring  words  similar  to  those  you  have  just 
heard." 

"  Humph  !  And  does  she  often  use  fiis  name?  " 

"  Whose  name  ?  " 

"  Mr.  Orcutt's." 

"  Why,  yes  ;  but  not  with  any  understanding  of  whom 
she  is  speaking." 

"  Are  you  sure  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Gryce,  with  that  pecul- 
iar impressiveness  he  used  on  great  occasions. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  I  mean,"  returned  the  detective,  dryly,  "  that  I  believe 
your  mother  does  know  what  she  is  talking  about  when 
she  links  the  name  of  Mr.  Orcutt  with  that  of  your  cousin 
who  was  murdered.  They  belong  together  ;  Mr.  Orcutt 
was  her  murderer." 

"  Mr.  Orcutt  ?  " 

"  Hush  !  "  cried  Mr.  Gryce,  "  you  will  wake  up  your 
mother." 

And,  adapting  himself  to  this  emergency  as  to  all  oth- 
ers, he  talked  with  the  astounded  and  incredulous  woman 
before  him  till  she  was  in  a  condition  not  only  to  listen  to 
his  explanations,  but  to  discuss  the  problem  of  a  crime  so 
seemingly  without  motive.  He  then  said,  with  easy  as- 
surance : 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  581 

"  Your  mother  does  not  know  that  Mr.  Orcutt  is 
dead?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  She  does  not  even  know  he  was  counsel  for  Craik 
Mansell  in  the  trial  now  going  on." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ? "  inquired  Miss  Firman, 
grimly. 

"  Because  I  do  not  believe  you  have  even  told  her  that 
Craik  Mansell  was  on  trial." 

"  Sir,  you  are  a  magician." 

"  Have  you,  madam  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,  I  have  not." 

"  Very  good  ;  what  does  she  know  about  Mr.  Orcutt, 
then  ;  and  why  should  she  connect  his  name  with  Mrs, 
Clemmens  ?  " 

"  She  knows  he  was  her  boarder,  and  that  he  was  the 
first  one  to  discover  she  had  been  murdered." 

"  That  is  not  enough  to  account  for  her  frequent  repe- 
tition of  his  name." 

"  You  think  not  ?  " 

"  I  am  sure  not.  Cannot  your  mother  have  some 
memories  connected  with  his  name  of  which  you  are  ig- 
norant ?  " 

"No,  sir;  we  have  lived  together  in  this  house  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  have  never  had  a  thought  we  have 
not  shared  together.  Ma  could  not  have  known  any 
thing  about  him  or  Mary  Ann  which  I  did  not.  The 
words  she  has  just  spoken  sprang  from  mental  confusion. 
She  is  almost  like  a  child  sometimes." 


582  HAND   AND    RING. 

Mr.  Gryce  smiled.  If  the  cream-jug  he  happened  to 
be  gazing  at  on  a  tray  near  by  had  been  full  of  cream,  I 
am  far  from  certain  it  would  not  have  turned  sour  on  the 
spot. 

"I  grant  the  mental  confusion,"  said  he;  "but  why 
should  she  confuse  those  two  names  in  preference  to  all 
others  ?  "  And,  with  quiet  persistence,  he  remarked  again  : 
"  She  may  be  recalling  some  old  fact  of  years  ago.  Was 
there  never  a  time,  even  while  you  lived  here  together, 
when  she  could  have  received  some  confidence  from  Mrs. 
Clemmens " 

"Mary  Ann,  Mary  Ann  !  "  came  in  querulous  accents 
from  the  other  room,  "  I  wish  you  had  not  told  me  ;  Emily 
would  be  a  better  one  to  know  your  secret." 

It  was  a  startling  interruption  to  come  just  at  that  mo- 
ment. The  two  surprised  listeners  glanced  toward  each 
other,  and  Miss  Firman  colored. 

"  That  sounds  as  if  your  surmise  was  true,"  she  dryly 
observed. 

*'  Let  us  make  an  experiment,"  said  he,  and  motioned 
her  to  re-enter  her  mother's  room,  which  she  did  with  a 
precipitation  that  showed  her  composure  had  been  sorely 
shaken  by  these  unexpected  occurrences. 

He  followed  her  without  ceremony. 

The  old  lady  lay  as  before  in  a  condition  between 
sleeping  and  waking,  and  did  not  move  as  they  came  in. 
Mr.  Gryce  at  once  withdrew  out  of  sight,  and,  with  finger 
on  his  lip,  put  himself  in   the  attitude  of  waiting.     Miss 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  583 

Firman,  surprised,  and  possibly  curious,  took  her  stand 
at  the  foot  of  the  bed. 

A  few  minutes  passed  thus,  during  which  a  strange 
dreariness  seemed  to  settle  upon  the  room  ;  then  the  old 
lady  spoke  again,  this  time  repeating  the  words  he  had 
first  heard,  but  in  a  tone  which  betrayed  an  increased 
perplexity. 

"  JVas  it  Clemmens  or  was  it  Orcutt  ?  I  wish  some- 
body would  tell  me." 

Instantly  Mr.  Gryce,  with  his  soft  tread,  drew  near  to 
the  old  lady's  side,  and,  leaning  over  her,  murmured 
gently  : 

"  I  think  it  was  Orcutt." 

Instantly  the  old  lady  breathed  a  deep  sigh  and  moved. 

"  Then  her  name  was  Mrs.  Orcutt,"  said  she,  "  and  I 
thought  you  always  called  her  Clemmens." 

Miss  Firman,  recoiling,  stared  at  Mr.  Gryce,  on  whose 
cheek  a  faint  spot  of  red  had  appeared — a  most  unusual 
token  of  emotion  with  him. 

"  Did  she  say  it  was  Mrs.  Orcutt,"  he  pursued,  in  the 
even  tones  he  had  before  used. 

"  She  said "     But  here   the    old  lady   opened  her 

eyes,  and,  seeing  her  daughter  standing  at  the  foot  of  her 
bed,  turned  away  with  a  peevish  air,  and  restlessly  pushed 
her  hand  under  the  pillow. 

Mr.  Gryce  at  once  bent  nearer. 

"  She  said- "  he  suggested,  with  careful  gentleness. 

But  the  old  lady  made  no  answer.     Her  hand  seemed 


584  HAND   AND    RING. 

to  have  touched  some  object  for  which  she  was  seeking, 
and  she  was  evidently  oblivious  to  all  else.  Miss  Firman 
came  around  and  touched  Mr.  Gryce  on  the  shoulder. 

"  It  is  useless,"  said  she  ;  "  she  is  awake  now,  and  you 
won't  hear  any  thing  more  ;  come  !  " 

And  she  drew  the  reluctant  detective  back  again  into 
the  other  room. 

"What  does  it  all  mean  ?"  she  asked,  sinking  into  a 
chair. 

Mr.  Gryce  did  not  answer.  He  had  a  question  of  his 
own  to  put. 

"  Why  did  your  mother  put  her  hand  under  her  pil- 
low ?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  don't  know,  unless  it  was  to  see  if  her  big  envelope 
was  there." 

"  Her  big  envelope  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  for  weeks  now,  ever  since  she  took  to  her  bed, 
she  has  kept  a  paper  in  a  big  envelope  under  her  pillow. 
What  is  in  it  I  don't  know,  for  she  never  seems  to  hear 
me  when  I  inquire." 

"  And  have  you  no  curiosity  to  find  out  ?  " 

"  No,  sir.  Why  should  I  ?  It  might  easily  be  my 
father's  old  letters  sealed  up,  or,  for  that  matter,  be  noth- 
ing more  than  a  piece  of  blank  paper.  My  mother  is  not 
herself,  as  I  have  said  before." 

"  I  should  like  a  peep  at  the  contents  of  that  envelope," 
he  declared. 

"You?" 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  585 

"  Is  there  any  name  written  on  the  outside  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  It  would  not  be  violating  any  one's  rights,  then,  if 
you  opened  it." 

"  Only  my  mother's,  sir." 

"  You  say  she  is  not  in  her  right  mind  ?  " 

"  All  the  more  reason  why  I  should  respect  her  whims 
and  caprices." 

"  Would  n't  you  open  it  if  she  were  dead  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Will  it  be  very  different  then  from  what  it  is  now  ? 
A  father's  letters  !  a  blank  piece  of  paper  !  What  harm 
would  there  be  in  looking  at  them  ?  " 

"  My  mother  would  know  it  if  I  took  them  away.  It 
might  excite  and  injure  her." 

"  Put  another  envelope  in  the  place  of  this  one,  with  a 
piece  of  paper  folded  up  in  it." 

"  It  would  be  a  trick." 

"I  know  it  ;  but  if  Craik  Mansell  can  be  saved  even  by 
a  trick,  I  should  think  you  would  be  willing  to  venture 
on  one." 

"  Craik  Mansell  ?  What  has  he  got  to  do  with  the 
papers  under  my  mother's  pillow  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  say  that  he  has  any  thing  to  do  with  them  ; 
but  if  he  has — if,  for  instance,  that  envelope  should  con- 
tain, not  a  piece  of  blank  paper,  or  even  the  letters  of 
your  father,  but  such  a  document,  say,  as  a  certificate  of 
marriage " 


386  HAND    AND    RING. 

"  A  certificate  of  marriage  ?  " 

"  Yes,  between  Mrs.  Clemmens  and  Mr.  Orcutt,  it 
would  not  take  much  perspicacity  to  prophesy  an 
acquittal  for  Craik  ManselJ." 

"  Mary  Ann  the  wife  of  Mr.  Orcutt  !  Oh,  that  is  im- 
possible !  "  exclaimed  the  agitated  spinster.  But  even 
while  making  this  determined  statement,  she  turned  a 
look  full  of  curiosity  and  excitement  toward  the  door 
which  separated  them  from  her  mother's  apartment. 

Mr.  Gryce  smiled  in  his  wise  way. 

''Less  improbable  things  than  that  have  been  found  to 
be  true  in  this  topsy-turvy  world,"  said  he.  "Mrs.  Clem- 
mens might  very  well  have  been  Mrs.  Orcutt." 

"  Do  you  really  think  so  ?  "  she  asked  ;  and  yielding  with 
sudden  impetuosity  to  the  curiosity  of  the  moment,  she 
at  once  dashed  from  his  side  and  disappeared  in  her 
mother's  room.  Mr.  Gryce's  smile  took  on  an  aspect  of 
triumph. 

It  was  some  few  moments  before  she  returned,  but 
when  she  did,  her  countenance  was  flushed  with  emotion. 

"  I  have  it,"  she  murmured,  taking  out  a  packet  from 
under  her  apron  and  tearing  it  open  with  trembling 
fingers. 

A  number  of  closely  written  sheets  fell  out. 


TilE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  587 


XLIV. 

THE    WIDOW  CLEMMENS. 

Discovered 
The  secret  that  so  long  had  hovered 
Upon  the  misty  verge  of  Truth.— Longfellow. 

WELL,  and  what  have  you  to  say  ? "  It  was  Mr. 
Ferris  who  spoke.  The  week  which  Mr. 
Gryce  had  demanded  for  his  inquiries  had  fully  elapsed, 
md  the  three  detectives  stood  before  him  ready  with 
their  report. 

It  was  Mr.  Gryce  who  replied. 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  "our  opinions  have  not  been  changed 
by  the  discoveries  which  we  have  made.  It  was  Mr. 
Orcutt  who  killed  Mrs.  Clemmens,  and  for  the  reason 
already  stated  that  she  stood  in  the  way  of  his  marrying 
Miss  Dare.     Mrs.  Clemmens  was  his  wife." 

"  His  ivife  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  and,  what  is  more,  she  has  been  so  for 
years  ;  before  either  of  them  came  to  Sibley,  in  fact." 

The  District  Attorney  looked  stunned. 

**  It  was  while  they  lived  West,"  said  Byrd.  "  He  was 
a  poor  school-master,  and  she  a  waitress  in  some  hotel. 
She  was  pretty  then,  and  he  thought  he  loved  her.  At 
all  events,  he  induced  her  to  marry  him,  and  then  kept  it 


588  HAND  AND  RING. 

secret  because  he  was  afraid  she  would  lose  her  place  at 
the  hotel,  where  she  was  getting  very  good  wages.  You 
see,  he  had  the  makings  in  him  of  a  villain  even  then." 

"  And  was  it  a  real  marriage  ?  " 

"  There  is  a  record  of  it,"  said  Hickory. 

"  And  did  he  never  acknowledge  it  ?  " 

"  Not  openly,"  answered  Byrd.  "  The  commonness  of 
the  woman  seemed  to  revolt  him  after  he  was  married  to 
her,  and  when  in  a  month  or  so  he  received  the  summons 
East,  which  opened  up  before  him  the  career  of  a  lawyer, 
he  determined  to  drop  her  and  start  afresh.  He  accord- 
ingly left  town  without  notifying  her,  and  actually  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  railway  depot  twenty  miles  away 
before  he  was  stopped.  But  here,  a  delay  occurring  in 
the  departure  of  the  train,  she  was  enabled  to  overtake 
him,  and  a  stormy  scene  ensued.  What  its  exact  nature 
was,  we,  of  course,  cannot  say,  but  from  the  results  it  is 
evident  that  he  told  her  his  prospects  had  changed,  and 
with  them  his  tastes  and  requirements  ;  that  she  was  not 
the  woman  he  thought  her,  and  that  he  could  not  and 
would  not  take  her  East  with  him  as  his  wife  :  while  she, 
on  her  side,  displayed  full  as  much  spirit  as  he,  and  re- 
plied that  if  he  could  desert  her  like  this  he  was  n't  the 
kind  of  a  man  she  could  live  with,  and  that  he  could  go 
if  he  wished  ;  only  that  he  must  acknowledge  her  claims 
upon  him  by  giving  her  a  yearly  stipend,  according  to 
his  income  and  success.  At  all  events,  some  such  com- 
promise  was  effected,  for  he  came   East   and   she  went 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  589 

back  to  Swanson.  She  did  not  stay  there  long,  however; 
for  the  next  we  know  she  was  in  Sibley,  where  she  set  up 
her  own  little  house-keeping  arrangements  under  his  very 
eye.  More  than  that,  she  prevailed  upon  him  to  visit  her 
daily,  and  even  to  take  a  meal  at  her  house,  her  sense  of 
justice  seeming  to  be  satisfied  if  he  showed  her  this  little 
attention  and  gave  to  no  other  woman  the  place  he 
denied  her.  It  was  the  weakness  shown  in  this  last  re- 
quirement that  doubtless  led  to  her  death.  She  would 
stand  any  thing  but  a  rival.  He  knew  this,  and  preferred 
crime  to  the  loss  of  the  woman  he  loved." 

"You  speak  very  knowingly,"  said  Mr.  Ferris.  "  May 
I  ask  where  you  received  your  information  ?  " 

It  was  Mr.  Gryce  who  answered. 

"  From  letters.  Mrs.  Clemmens  was  one  of  those  wo- 
men who  delight  in  putting  their  feelings  on  paper.  For- 
tunately for  us,  such  women  are  not  rare.  See  here  !  " 
And  he  pulled  out  before  the  District  Attorney  a  pile  of 
old  letters  in  the  widow's  well-known  handwriting. 

"Where  did  you  find  these  ?"  asked  Mr.  Ferris. 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Gryce,  "  I  found  them  in  rather 
a  curious  place.  They  were  in  the  keeping  of  old  Mrs. 
Firman,  Miss  Firman's  mother.  Mrs.  Clemmens,  or, 
rather,  Mrs.  Orcutt,  got  frightened  some  two  years  ago  at 
the  disappearance  of  her  marriage  certificate  from  the 
place  where  she  had  always  kept  it  hidden,  and,  thinking 
that  Mr.  Orcutt  was  planning  to  throw  her  off,  she 
resolved  to  provide  herself  with  a  confidante  capable  of 


590  HAND   AND   RING. 

standing  by  her  in  case  she  wished  to  assert  her  rights. 
She  chose  old  Mrs.  Firman.  Why,  when  her  daughter 
would  have  been  so  much  more  suitable  for  the  purpose, 
it  is  hard  to  tell  ;  possibly  the  widow's  pride  revolted 
from  telling  a  woman  of  her  own  years  the  indignities 
she  had  suffered.  However  that  may  be,  it  .was  to 
the  old  lady  she  told  her  story  and  gave  these  letters — 
letters  which,  as  you  will  see,  are  not  written  to  any 
special  person,  but  are  rather  the  separate  leaves  of 
a  journal  which  she  kept  to  show  the  state  of  her  feelings 
from  time  to  time." 

"  And  this  ? "  inquired  Mr.  Ferris,  taking  up  a  sheet 
of  paper  written  in  a  different  handwriting  from  the 
rest. 

"  This  is  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  old  lady  to  put 
on  paper  the  story  which  had  been  told  her.  She  evi- 
dently thought  herself  too  old  to  be  entrusted  with  a  secret 
so  important,  and,  fearing  loss  of  memory,  or  perhaps 
sudden  death,  took  this  means  of  explaining  how  she 
came  into  possession  of  her  cousin's  letters.  'T  was  a 
wise  precaution.  Without  it  we  would  have  missed  the 
clue  to  the  widow's  journal.  For  the  old  lady's  brain 
gave  way  when  she  heard  of  the  widow's  death,  and  had 
it  not  been  for  a  special  stroke  of  good-luck  on  my 
part,  we  might  have  remained  some  time  longer  in 
ignorance  of  what  very  valuable  papers  she  secretly  held 
in  her  possession." 

•''  I  Avill  read  the  letters,"  said  Mr.  Ferris. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  59 1 

Seeing  from  his  look  that  he  only  waited  their  depart- 
ure to  do  so,  Mr.  Gryce  and  his  surbordinates  arose. 

"  I  think  you  will  find  them  satisfactory,"  drawled 
Hickory. 

"  If  you  do  not,"  said  Mr.  Gryce,  "then  give  a  look  at 
this  telegram.  It  is  from  Swanson,  and  notifies  us  that  a 
record  of  a  marriage  between  Benjamin  Orcutt — Mr. 
Orcutt's  middle  name  was  Benjamin — and  Mary  Mansell 
can  be  found  in  the  old  town  books." 

Mr.  Ferris  took  the  telegram,  the  shade  of  sorrow  set- 
tling heavier  and  heavier  on  his  brow. 

"  I  see,"  said  he,  "  I  have  got  to  accept  your  con- 
clusions. Well,  there  are  those  among  the  living  who 
will  be  greatly  relieved  by  these  discoveries.  I  will  try 
and  think  of  that." 

Yet,  after  the  detectives  were  gone,  and  he  sat  down  in 
solitude  before  these  evidences  of  his  friend's  perfidy,  it 
was  many  long  and  dreary  moments  before  he  could  sum- 
mon up  courage  to  peruse  them.  But  when  he  did,  he 
found  in  them  all  that  Mr.  Gryce  had  promised.  As  my 
readers  may  feel  some  interest  to  know  how  the  seeming 
widow  bore  the  daily  trial  of  her  life,  I  will  give  a  few 
extracts  from  these  letters.  The  first  bears  date  of  four- 
teen years  back,  and  was  written  after  she  came  to 
Sibley  : 

"  November  8,  1867. — In  the  same  town  !  Within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  court-house,  where,  they  tell  me,  his 
business  will  soon  take  him  almost  every  day  !  Is  n't  it 
a  triumph  ?  and  am  I  not  to  be  congratulated  upon  my 


592  HAND   AND    RING. 

bravery  in  coming  here  ?  He  has  n't  seen  me  yet,  but  I 
have  seen  him.  I  crept  out  of  the  house  at  nightfall  on 
purpose.  He  was  sauntering  down  the  street  and  he 
looked — it  makes  my  blood  boil  to  think  of  it — he  looked 
happy.'* 

"  November  id,  1867. — Clemmens,  Clemmens — that 
is  my  name,  and  I  have  taken  the  title  of  widow. 
What  a  fate  for  a  woman  with  a  husband  in  the  next 
street  !  He  saw  me  to-day.  I  met  him  in  the  open 
square,  and  I  looked  him  right  in  the  face.  How  he  did 
quail  !  It  just  does  me  good  to  think  of  it !  Perk  and 
haughty  as  he  is,  he  grew  as  white  as  a  sheet  when  he  saw 
me,  and  though  he  tried  to  put  on  airs  and  carry  it  off 
with  a  high  hand,  he  failed,  just  as  I  knew  he  would 
when  he  came  to  meet  me  on  even  ground.  Oh,  I  '11 
have  my  way  now,  and  if  I  choose  to  stay  in  this  place 
where  I  can  keep  my  eye  on  him,  he  won't  dare  to  say 
No.  The  only  thing  I  fear  is  that  he  will  do  me  a  secret 
mischief  some  day.  His  look  was  just  murderous  when 
he  left  me," 

"February  24,  1868. — Can  I  stand  it  ?  I  ask  myself 
that  question  every  morning  when  I  get  up.  Can  I  stand 
it  ?  To  sit  all  alone  in  my  little  narrow  room  and  know 
that  he  is  going  about  as  gay  as  you  please  with  people 
who  would  n't  look  at  me  twice.  It  's  awful  hard  ;  but 
it  would  be  worse  still  to  be  where  I  could  n't  see  what 
he  was  up  to.  Then  I  should  imagine  all  sorts  of  things. 
No,  I  will  just  grit  my  teeth  and  bear  it.  I  '11  get  used 
to  it  after  a  while." 

"October  7,  1868. — If  he  says  he  never  loved  me  he 
lies.  He  did,  or  why  did  he  marry  me  ?  I  never  asked 
him  to.  He  teased  me  into  it,  saying  my  saucy  ways  had 
bewitched  him.  A  month  after,  it  was  common  ways, 
rude  ways,  such  ways  as  he  would  n't  have  in  a  wife. 
That  's  the  kind  of  man  he  is." 

"May  II,  i86g. — One  thing  I  will  say  of  him.  He 
don't  pay  no  heed  to  women.  He  's  too  busy,  I  guess. 
He  don't  seem  to  think   of   any  thing  but  to   get   along. 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  593 

and  he  does  get  along  remarkable.  I  'm  awful  proud  of 
him.  He  's  taken  to  defending  criminals  lately.  They 
almost  all  get  off." 

"  October  5,  1870. — He  pays  me  but  a  pittance.  How 
can  I  look  like  any  thing,  or  hold  my  head  up  with  the 
ladies  here  if  I  cannot  get  enough  together  to  buy  me  a 
new  fall  hat.  I  will  not  go  to  church  looking  like  a 
farmer's  wife,  if  I  have  n't  any  education  or  any  man- 
ners. I  'm  as  good  as  anybody  here  if  they  but  knew  it, 
and  deserve  to  dress  as  well.  He  must  give  me  more 
money." 

"November  2,  1870. — No,  he  sha'n't  give  me  a 
cent  more.  If  I  can't  go  to  church  I  will  stay  at  home. 
He  sha'n't  say  I  stood  in  his  way  of  becoming  a 
great  man.  He  is  too  good  for  me.  I  saw  it  to-day 
when  he  got  up  in  the  court  to  speak.  I  was  there 
with  a  thick  veil  over  my  face,  for  I  was  determined 
to  know  whether  he  was  as  smart  as  folks  say  or  not. 
And  he  just  is  !  Oh,  how  beautiful  he  did  look,  and 
how  everybody  held  their  breaths  while  he  was  speak- 
ing !  I  felt  like  jumping  up  and  saying  :  '  This  is  my 
husband  ;  we  were  married  three  years  ago.'  Would  n't 
I  have  raised  a  rumpus  if  I  had  !  I  guess  the  poor 
man  he  was  pleading  for  would  not  have  been  remem- 
bered very  long  after  that.  My  husband  !  the  thought 
makes  me  laugh.  No  other  woman  can  call  him  that, 
anyhow.  He  is  mine,  mine,  mine,  and  I  mean  he  shall 
stay  so." 

"January  9,  1871. — I  feel  awful  blue  to-night.  I 
have  been  thinking  about  those  Hildreths.  How  they 
would  like  to  have  me  dead  !  And  so  would  Tremont, 
though  he  don't  say  nothing.  I  like  to  call  him  Tremont  ; 
it  makes  me  feel  as  if  he  belonged  to  me.  What  if  that 
wicked  Gouverneur  Hildreth  should  know  I  lived  so  much 
alone  ?  I  don't  believe  he  would  stop  at  killing  me  '  And 
my  husband  !  He  is  equal  to  telling  him  I  have  no  pro- 
tector. Oh,  what  a  dreadful  wickedness  it  is  in  me  to  put 
that  down  on  paper!  It  is  n't  so — it  is  n't  so  ;  my  husband 


594  HAND   AND    RING. 

would  n't  do  me  any  harm  if  he  could.  If  ever  I  'm  found 
dead  in  my  bed,  it  will  be  the  work  of  that  Toledo  man 
and  of  nobody  else." 

"  March  2,  1872. — I  hope  I  am  going  to  have  some 
comfort  now.  Tremont  has  begun  to  pay  me  more 
money.  He  had  to.  He  is  n't  a  poor  man  any  more, 
and  when  he  moves  into  his  big  house,  I  am  going  to  move 
into  a  certain  little  cottage  I  have  found,  just  around  the 
corner.  If  I  can  't  have  no  other  pleasures,  I  will  at  least 
have  a  kitchen  I  can  call  my  own,  and  a  parlor  too. 
What  if  there  don't  no  company  come  to  it ;  they  would 
if  \.\\Q.y  kne^v.  I  've  just  heard  from  Adelaide  ;  she  says 
Craik  is  getting  to  be  a  big  boy,  and  is  so  smart." 

"June  10,  1872. — What's  the  use  of  having  a  home  ?  I 
declare  I  feel  just  like  breaking  down  and  crying.  I  don't 
want  company  :  if  women  folks,  they  're  always  talking 
about  their  husbands  and  children  ;  and  if  men,  they  're 
always  saying  :  '  My  wife  's  this,  and  my  wife  's  that.' 
But  I  do  want  him.  It  's  my  right  ;  what  if  I  could  n't 
say  three  words  to  him  that  was  agreeable,  I  could  look 
at  him  and  think  :  '  This  splendid  gentleman  is  my  hus- 
band, I  ain't  so  much  alone  in  the  world  as  folks  think.' 
I  '11  put  on  my  bonnet  and  run  down  the  street.  Perhaps 
I  '11  see  him  sitting  in  the  club-house  window  !  " 

"  Evening. — I  hate  him.  He  has  a  hard,  cruel,  wicked 
heart.  When  I  got  to  the  club-house  window  he  was  sit- 
ting there,  so  I  just  went  walking  by,  and  he  saw  me  and 
came  out  and  hustled  me  away  with  terrible  words,  saying 
he  would  n't  have  me  hanging  round  where  he  was  ;  that 
I  had  i)romised  not  to  bother  him,  and  that  I  must  keep  my 
word,  or  he  would  see  me — he  did  n't  say  where,  but  it  's 
easy  enough  to  guess.  So — so  !  he  thinks  he  '11  put  an 
end  to  my  coming  to  see  him,  does  he  ?  Well,  perhaps  he 
can  ;  but  if  he  does,  he  shall  pay  for  it  by  coming  to  see 
me.  I  '11  not  sit  day  in  and  day  out  alone  without  the 
glimpse  of  a  face  I  love,  not  while  I  have  a  husband  in 
the  same  town  with  me.  He  shall  come,  if  it  is  only  for 
a  moment  each  day,  or  I  '11  dare  every  thing  and  tell  the 
world  I  am  his  wife." 


^ 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  595 

'*  June  16,  1872. — He  had  to  consent !  Meek  as  I 
have  been,  he  knows  it  won't  do  to  rouse  me  too  much. 
So  to-day  he  came  in  to  dinner,  and  he  had  to  acknowl- 
edge it  was  a  good  one.  Oh,  how  I  did  feel  when  I  saw 
his  face  on  the  other  side  of  the  table  !  I  did  n't  know 
whether  I  hated  him  or  loved  him.  But  I  am  sure  now  I 
hated  him^  for  he  scarcely  spoke  to  me  all  the  time  he  was 
eating,  and  when  he  was  through,  he  went  away  just  as  a 
stranger  would  have  done.  He  means  to  act  like  a  boarder, 
and,  goodness  me,  he  's  welcome  to  if  he  is  n't  going  to 

act  like  a  husband  !     The   hard,   selfish Gb.  oh,  I 

love  him  !  " 

"  August  5,  1872.- — It  is  no  use  ;  I  '11  never  be  a 
happy  woman.  Tremont  has  been  in  so  regularly  to  din- 
ner lately,  and  shown  me  such  a  kind  face,  I  thought  I 
would  venture  upon  a  little  familiarity.  It  was  only  to  lay 
my  hand  upon  his  arm,  but  it  made  him  very  angry,  and  I 
thought  he  would  strike  me.  Am  I  then  actually  hateful 
to  him  ?  or  is  he  so  proud  he  cannot  bear  the  thought  of 
my  having  the  right  to  touch  him  ?  I  looked  in  the  glass 
when  he  went  out.  I  am  plain  and  homespun,  that  's  a 
fact.  Even  my  red  cheeks  are  gone,  and  the  dimples 
which  once  took  his  fancy.  I  shall  never  lay  the  tip  of 
a  finger  on  him  again." 

"February  13,  1873. — What  shall  I  cook  for  him 
to-day  ?  Some  thing  that  he  likes.  It  is  my  only  pleas- 
ure, to  see  how  he  does  enjoy  my  meals.  I  should  think 
they  would  choke  him  ;  they  do  me  sometimes.  But  men 
are  made  of  iron — ambitious  men,  anyhow.  Little  they 
care  what  suffering  they  cause,  so  long  as  they  have  a 
good  time  and  get  all  the  praises  they  want.  Zr<?  gets  them 
more  and  more  every  day.  He  will  soon  be  as  far  above 
me  as  if  I  had  married  the  President  himself.  Oh,  some- 
times when  I  think  of  it  and  remember  he  is  my  own  hus- 
band, I  just  feel  as  if  some  awful  fate  was  preparing  for 
him  or  me  !  " 

"  June  7,  1873. — Would  he  send  for  me  if  he  was 
dying  ?     No.     He  hates  me  ;  he  hates  me." 


Sg6  HAND   AND   RING. 

"  September  8,  1874. — Craik  was  here  to-day  ;  he  is 
jnst  going  North  to  earn  a  few  dollars  in  the  logging  busi- 
ness. What  a  keen  eye  he  has  for  a  boy  of  his  years  !  I 
should  n't  wonder  if  he  made  a  powerful  smart  man  some 
day.  If  he  's  only  good,  too,  and  kind  to  his  women- 
folks, I  sha'n't  mind.  But  a  smart  man  who  is  all 
for  himself  is  an  awful  trial  to  those  who  love  him. 
Don't  I  know  ?  Have  n't  I  suffered  ?  Craik  must  never 
be  like  him." 

"  December  21,  1875. — One  thousand  dollars.  That  's 
a  nice  little  sum  to  have  put  away  in  the  bank.  So 
much  I  get  out  of  my  husband's  fame,  anyhow.  I 
think  I  will  make  my  will,  for  I  want  Craik  to  have  what 
I  leave.     He  's  a  fine  lad." 

"  February  19,  1876. — I  was  thinking  the  other  day, 
suppose  I  did  die  suddenly.  It  would  be  dreadful  to 
have  the  name  of  Clemmens  put  on  my  tombstone  !  But 
it  would  be.  Tremont  would  never  let  the  truth  be 
known,  if  he  had  to  rifle  my  dead  body  for  my  marriage 
certificate.  What  shall  I  do,  then  ?  Tell  anybody  who 
I  am  ?  It  seems  just  as  if  I  could  n't.  Either  the  whole 
world  must  know  it,  or  just  himself  and  me  alone.  Oh,  I 
wish  I  had  never  been  born  !  " 

"June  17,  1876. — Why  was  n't  I  made  handsome 
and  fine  and  nice  ?  Think  where  I  would  be  if  I  was  ! 
I  'd  be  in  that  big  house  of  his,  curtesying  to  all  the 
grand  folks  as  go  there.  I  went  to  see  it  last  night.  It 
was  dark  as  pitch  in  the  streets,  and  I  went  into  the  gate 
and  all  around  the  house.  I  walked  upon  the  piazza  too, 
and  rubbed  my  hand  along  the  window-ledges  and  up 
and  down  the  doors.  It  's  mighty  nice,  all  of  it,  and 
there  sha'n't  be  a  square  inch  on  that  whole  ground  that 
my  foot  sha'n't  go  over.  I  wish  I  could  get  inside  the 
house  once." 

"July  i,  1S76. — I  have  done  it.  I  went  to  see  Mr. 
Orcutt's  sister.  I  had  a  right.  Is  n't  he  away,  and 
is  n't  he  my  boarder,  and  did  n't  I  want  to  know  when 
he  was    coming  home  ?       She    's   a    soft,  good-natured 


THE  SCALES  OF  JUSTICE.  59/ 

piece,  and  let  me  peek  into  the  library  without  saying  a 
word.  What  a  room  it  is  !  I  just  felt  like  I  'd  been 
struck  when  I  saw  it  and  spied  his  chair  setting  there 
and  all  those  books  heaped  around  and  the  fine  things  on 
the  mantel-shelf  and  the  pictures  on  the  walls.  What 
would  I  do  in  such  a  place  as  that  ?  I  could  keep  it 
clean,  but  so  could  any  gal  he  might  hire.  Oh,  me  !  Oh, 
me  !  I  wish  he  'd  given  me  a  chance.  Perhaps  if  he  had 
loved  me  I  might  have  learned  to  be  quiet  and  nice  like 
that  silly  sister  of  his." 

"January  12,  1877. — Some  women  would  take  a 
heap  of  delight  in  having  folks  know  they  were  the 
wife  of  a  great  man,  but  I  find  lots  of  pleasure  in  being 
so  without  folks  knowing  it.  If  I  lived  in  his  big  house 
and  was  called  Mrs.  Orcutt,  why,  he  would  have  noth- 
ing to  be  afraid  of  and  might  do  as  he  pleased;  but 
now  he  has  to  do  what  /  please.  Sometimes,  when  I  sit 
down  of  an  evening  in  my  little  sitting-room  to  sew,  I 
think  how  this  famous  man  whom  everybody  is  afraid  of 
has  to  come  and  go  just  as  humble  me  wants  him  to  ; 
and  it  makes  me  hug  myself  with  pride.  It  's  as  if  I 
had  a  string  tied  round  his  little  finger,  which  I  can  pull 
now  and  then.  I  don't  pull  it  much  ;  but  I  do  some- 
times." 

"March  30,  1877. — Gouverneur  Hildreth  is  dead.  I 
shall  never  be  his  victim,  at  any  rate.  Shall  I  ever  be  the 
victim  of  anybody  ?  I  don't  feel  as  if  I  cared  now.  For 
one  kiss  I  would  sell  my  life  and  die  happy. 

"  There  is  a  young  Gouverneur,  but  it  will  be  years 
before  he  will  be  old  enough  to  make  me  afraid  of 
him." 

"November  16,  1878. — I  should  think  that  Tre- 
mont  would  be  lonely  in  that  big  house  of  his.  If  he 
had  a  heart  he  would.  They  say  he  reads  all  the  time. 
How  can  folks  pore  so  over  books  ?  I  can't.  I  'd 
rather  sit  in  my  chair  and  think.  What  story  in  all  the 
books  is  equal  to  mine  ?  " 

"April  23,  1879. — I  am  growing  very  settled  in  my 


598  HAND   AND    RING. 

ways.  Now  that  Tremont  comes  in  almost  every  day, 
I  'm  satisfied  not  lo  see  any  other  company.  My  house 
affairs  keep  me  busy  too.  I  like  to  have  it  all  nice  for 
him.  I  believe  I  could  almost  be  happy  if  he  'd  only 
smile  once  in  a  while  when  he  meets  my  eye.  But  he 
never  does.  Oh,  well,  we  all  have  our  crosses,  and  he  's 
a  very  great  man." 

"January  i8,  iSSo. — He  went  to  a  ball  last  night. 
What  does  it  mean  ?  He  never  seemed  to  care  for 
things  like  that.     Is  there  any  girl  he  is  after  ?  " 

"  February  6,  1880. — Oh,  he  has  been  riding  with 
a  lady,  has  he  ?  It  was  in  the  next  town,  and  he  thought 
I  would  n't  hear.  But  there  's  little  he  does. that  I  don't 
know  about  ;  let  him  make  himself  sure  of  that.  I  even 
know  her  name ;  it  is  Selina  Pratt.  If  he  goes  with  her 
again,  look  out  for  a  disturbance.  I  '11  not  stand  his 
making  love  to  another  woman." 

"May  26,  1880. — My  marriage  certificate  is  missing. 
Can  it  be  that  Tremont  has  taken  it  ?  I  have  looked  all 
through  the  desk  where  I  have  kept  it  for  so  many  years, 
but  I  cannot  find  it.  He  was  left  alone  in  the  house  a 
few  minutes  the  other  day.  Could  he  have  taken  the 
chance  to  rob  me  of  the  only  proof  I  have  that  we  are 
man  and  wife  ?  If  he  has  he  is  a  villain  at  heart,  and  is 
capable  of  doing  any  thing,  even  of  marrying  this  Pratt 
girl  who  he  has  taken  riding  again.  The  worst  is  that  I 
dare  not  accuse  him  of  having  my  certificate  ;  for  if  he 
did  n't  take  it  and  should  find  out  it  is  gone,  he  'd  throw 
me  off  just  as  quick  as  if  he  had.  What  shall  I  do  then? 
Something.  He  shall  never  marry  another  woman  while 
I  live." 

"May  30,  1880.  —  The  Pratt  girl  is  gone.  If  he 
cared  for  her  it  was  only  for  a  week,  like  an  old  love  I 
could  mention.  I  think  I  feel  safe  again,  only  I  am  con- 
vinced some  one  ought  to  know  my  secret  besides  myself. 
Shall  it  be  Emily  ?     No.     I  'd  rather  tell  her  mother." 

"  June  qth,  1880. — I  am  going  to  Utica.     I  shall  take 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  599 

these  letters  with  me.  Perhaps  I  shall  leave  them.  For 
the  last  time,  then,  let  me  say  '  I  am  the  lawful  wife  of 
Tremont  Benjamin  Orcutt,  the  lawyer,  who  lives  in  Sib- 
ley, New  York.'  We  were  married  in  Swanson,  Nevada, 
on  the  3d  of  July,  1867,  by  a  travelling  minister,  named 
George  Sinclair. 

"  Mary  Ann  Orcutt,  Sibley,  N.  Y." 


Coo  HAND   AND    RING. 


XLV. 

MR.    GRYCE    SAYS   GOOD-BYE. 
There  still  are  many  rainbows  in  your  sky. — Byron. 

HELEN?" 
"Yes,  Imogene." 

"  What  noise  is  that  ?  The  people  seem  to  be  shout- 
ing down  the  street.     What  does  it  mean  ? 

Helen  Richmond — whom  we  better  know  as  Helen 
Darling — looked  at  the  worn,  fever-flushed  countenance 
of  her  friend,  and  for  a  moment  was  silent  ;  then  she 
whispered  : 

"  I  have  not  dared  to  tell  you  before,  you  seemed  so 
ill ;  but  I  can  tell  you  now,  because  joyful  news  never 
hurts.  The  people  shout  because  the  long  and  tedious 
trial  of  an  innocent  man  has  come  to  an  end.  Craik 
Mansell  was  acquitted  from  the  charge  of  murder  this 
morning." 

"  Acquitted  !     O  Helen  !  " 

"  Yes,  dear.  Since  you  have  been  ill,  very  strange 
and  solemn  revelations  have  come  to  light.  Mr.  Or- 
cutt " 

"  Ah  ! "  cried  Imogene,  rising  up  in  the  great  arm- 
chair in  which  she  was   half-sitting   and  half-reclining. 


THE  SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  6oi 

"  I  know  what  you  are  going  to  say.  I  was  with  Mr. 
Orcutt  when  he  died.  I  heard  him  myself  declare  that 
fate  had  spoken  in  his  death.  I  believe  Mr.  Orcutt  to 
have  been  the  murderer  of  Mrs.  Clemmens,  Helen." 

"  Yes,  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  that,"  was  the 
reply. 

"  It  has  been  proved  then  ?" 

"Yes."      . 

Moved  to  the  depths  of  her  being,  Imogene  covered 
her  face  with  her  hands.     Presently  she  murmured  : 

"  I  do  not  understand  it.  Why  should  such  a  great 
man  as  he  have  desired  the  death  of  a  woman  like  her  r 
He  said  it  was  all  for  my  sake.  What  did  he  mean, 
Helen  ? " 

"  Don't  you  know  ? "  questioned  the  other,  anxiously. 

"  How  should  I  ?  It  is  the  mystery  of  mysteries  to 
me." 

"Ah,  then  you  did  not  suspect  that  she  was  his 
wife  ?  " 

"  His  wife  !  "     Imogene  rose  in  horror. 

"  Yes,"  repeated  the  little  bride  with  decision.  "She 
was  his  lawfully  wedded  wife.  They  were  married  as 
long  ago  as  when  we  were  little  children." 

"  Married  !  And  he  dared  to  approach  me  with  words 
of  love  !  Dared  to  offer  himself  to  me  as  a  husband 
while  his  hands  were  still  wet  with  the  life-blood  of  his 
wife  !  O  the  horror  of  it !  The  amazing  wickedness 
and  presumption  of  it !  " 


602  HAND   AND    RING. 

"  He  is  dead,"  whispered  the  gentle  little  lady  at  her 
side. 

With  a  sigh  of  suppressed  feeling,  Imogene  sank  back. 

"  I  must  not  think  of  him,"  she  cried.  "  I  am  not 
strong  enough.  I  must  think  only  of  Craik.  He  has 
been  acquitted,  you  say — acquitted." 

"  Yes,  and  the  whole  town  is  rejoicing." 

A  smile,  exquisite  as  it  was  rare,  swept  like  a  sunbeam 
over  Imogene's  lips. 

"  And  I  rejoice  with  the  rest,"  she  cried.  Then,  as  if 
she  felt  all  speech  to  be  a  mockery,  she  remained  for  a 
long  time  silent,  gazing  with  ever-deepening  expression 
into  the  space  before  her,  till  Helen  did  not  know 
whether  the  awe  she  felt  creeping  over  her  sprang  from 
admiration  of  her  companion's  suddenly  awakened  beauty 
or  from  a  recognition  of  the  depths  of  that  companion's 
emotions.     At  last  Imogene  spoke  : 

"  How  came  Mr.  Mansell  to  be  acquitted'^  Mr.  Gryce 
did  not  tell  me  to  look  for  any  such  reinstatement  as 
that.  The  most  he  bade  me  expect  was  that  Mr.  Ferris 
would  decline  to  prosecute  Mr.  Mansell  any  further,  in 
which  event  he  would  be  discharged." 

"I  know,"  said  Helen,  "but  Mr.  Mansell  was  not  satis- 
fied with  that.  He  demanded  a  verdict  from  the  jury. 
So  Mr.  Ferris,  with  great  generosity,  asked  the  Judge  to 
recommend  the  jury  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  acquittal, 
and  when  the  Judge  hesitated  to  do  this,  the  foreman  of 
the  jury  himself  rose,  and  intimated  that  he  thought  the 


THE   SCALES  OF   JUSTICE.  603 

jury  were  ready  with  their  verdict.  The  Judge  took  ad- 
vantage of  this,  and  the  result  was  a  triumphant  ac- 
quittal." 

"  O  Helen,  Helen  !  " 

"That  was  just  an  hour  ago,"  cried  the  little  lady, 
brightly,  "  but  the  people  are  not  through  shouting  yet. 
There  has  been  a  great  excitement  in  town  these  last  few 
days." 

"  And  I  knew  nothing  of  it !  "  exclaimed  Imogene. 
Suddenly  she  looked  at  Helen.  "  How  did  you  J;jear 
about  what  took  place  in  the  court-room  to-day  ? "  she 
asked. 

"  Mr.  Byrd  told  me." 

"Ah,  Mr.  Byrd?" 

"  He  came  to  leave  a  good-bye  for  you.  He  goes 
home  this  afternoon." 

"  I  should  like  to  have  seen  Mr.  Byrd,"  said  Imogene. 

"  Would  you  ? "  queried  the  little  lady,  quietly  shaking 
her  head.  "  I  don't  know  ;  I  think  it  is  just  as  well  you 
did  not  see  him,"  said  she. 

But  she  made  no  such  demur  when  a  little  while  later 
Mr.  Gryce  was  announced.  The  fatherly  old  gentleman 
had  evidently  been  in  that  house  before,  and  Mrs.  Rich- 
mond was  not  the  woman  to  withstand  a  man  like  him. 

He  came  immediately  into  the  room  where  Imogene 
was  sitting.  Evidently  he  thought  as  Helen  did,  that 
good  news  never  hurts. 

*'  Well ! "  he  cried,  taking  her  trembling  hand  in  his, 


604  HAND   AND   RING. 

with  his  most  expressive  smile.  "What  did  I  tell  you  ? 
Did  n't  I  say  that  if  you  would  only  trust  me  all  would 
come  right  ?  And  it  has,  don't  you  see  ?  Right  as  a 
trivet." 

"Yes,"  she  returned;  "and  I  never  can  find  words 
with  which  to  express  my  gratitude.  You  have  saved 
two  lives,  Mr.  Gryce  :  his — and  mine." 

"  Pooh  !  pooh  I  "  cried  the  detective,  good-humoredly. 
"You  must  n't  think  too  much  of  any  thing  I  have  done. 
It  was  the  falling  limb  that  did  the  business.  If  Mr. 
Orcutt's  conscience  had  not  been  awakened  by  the  stroke 
of  death,  I  don't  know  where  we  should  have  been  to- 
day. Affairs  were  beginning  to  look  pretty  dark  for 
Mansell." 

Imogene  shuddered. 

"  But  I  have  n't  come  here  to  call  up  unpleasant  mem- 
ories," he  continued.  "  I  have  come  to  wish  you  joy  and 
a  happy  convalescence."  And  leaning  toward  her,  he 
said,  with  a  complete  change  of  voice  :  "  You  know,  I 
suppose,  why  Mr.  Mansell  presumed  to  think  you  guilty 
of  this  crime  ?" 

"  No,"  she  murmured,  wearily  ;  "  unless  it  was  because 
the  ring  he  believed  me  to  have  retained  was  found  on 
the  scene  of  murder." 

"Bah!"  cried  Mr.  Gryce,  "he  had  a  much  better 
reason  than  that." 

And  with  the  air  of  one  who  Avishes  to  clear  up  all  mis- 
understandings, he  told  her  the  words  which  her  lover 


THE   SCALES   OF  JUSTICE.  605 

had  overheard  Mrs.  Clemmens  say  when  he  came  up  to 
her  dining-room  door. 

The  effect  on  Imogene  was  very  great.  Hoping  to 
hide  it,  she  turned  away  her  face,  showing  in  this  struggle 
with  herself  something  of  the  strength  of  her  old  days. 
Mr,  Gryce  watched  her  with  interest, 

"  It  is  very  strange,"  was  her  first  remark.  "  I  had 
such  reasons  for  thinking  him  guilty ;  he  such  good 
cause  for  thinking  me  so.  What  wonder  we  doubted 
each  other.  And  yet  I  can  never  forgive  myself  for 
doubting  him  ;  I  can  sooner  forgive  him  for  doubting 
me.     If  you  see  him " 

"  If  /  see  him  ? "  interrupted  the  detective,  with  a 
smile, 

"  Yes,"  said  she.  "  If  you  see  him  tell  him  that  Imo- 
gene Dare  thanks  him  for  his  noble  conduct  toward  one 
he  believed  to  be  stained  by  so  despicable  a  crime,  and 
assure  him  that  I  think  he  was  much  more  justified  in  his 
suspicions  than  I  was  in  mine,  for  there  were  weaknesses 
in  my  character  which  he  had  ample  opportunities  for 
observing,  while  all  that  I  knew  of  him  was  to  his  credit. 

"  Miss  Dare,"  suggested  the  detective,  "could  n't  you 
tell  him  this  much  better  yourself  ?  " 

"  I  shall  not  have  the  opportunity,"  she  said. 

"  And  why  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  Mr.  Mansell  and  I  have  met  for  the  last  time.  A 
woman  who  has  stained  herself  by  such  declarations  as 
I  made  use  of  in  court  the  last  time  I  was  called  to  the 


6o6  HAND   AND   RING. 

Stand  has  created  a  barrier  between  herself  and  all  earthly 
friendship.  Even  he  for  whom  I  perjured  myself  so 
basely  cannot  overleap  the  gulf  I  dug  between  us  two 
that  day," 

"  But  that  is  hard,"  said  Mr.  Gryce. 

"  My  life  {s  hard,"  she  answered. 

The  wise  old  man,  who  had  seen  so  much  of  life  and 
who  knew  the  human  heart  so  well,  smiled,  but  did  not 
reply.     He  turned  instead  to  another  subject. 

"  Well,"  he  declared,  "  the  great  case  is  over  !  Sibley, 
satisfied  with  having  made  its  mark  in  the  world,  will  now 
rest  in  peace.  I  quit  the  place  with  some  reluctance  my- 
self.    *T  is  a  mighty  pretty  spot  to  do  business  in." 

"  You  are  going  ?  "  she  asked. 

"Immediately,"  was  the  reply.  "We  detectives  don't 
have  much  time  to  rest."  Then,  as  he  saw  how  deep  a 
shadow  lay  upon  her  brow,  added,  confidentially  :  "  Miss 
Dare,  we  all  have  occasions  for  great  regret.  Look  at 
me  now.  Honest  as  I  hold  myself  to  be,  I  cannot  blind 
myself  to  the  fact  that  I  am  the  possible  instigator  of  this 
crime.  If  I  had  not  shown  Mr.  Orcutt  how  a  man  like 
himself  might  perpetrate  a  murder  without  rousing  suspi- 
cion, he  might  never  have  summoned  up  courage  to 
attempt  it.  For  a  detective  with  a  conscience,  that  is  a 
hard  thought  to  bear." 

"  But  you  were  ignorant  of  what  you  were  doing,"  she 
protested.  "  You  had  no  idea  there  was  any  one  present 
who  was  meditating  crime." 


THE   SCALES   OF   JUSTICE.  607 

"  True  ;  but  a  detective  should  n't  be  ignorant.  He 
ought  to  know  men  ;  he  has  opportunity  enough  to  learn 
them.  But  I  won't  be  caught  again.  Never  in  any  com- 
pany, not  if  it  is  composed  of  the  highest  dignitaries  in 
the  land,  will  I  ever  tell  again  how  a  crime  of  any 
kind  can  be  perpetrated  without  risk.  One  always  runs 
the  chance  of  encountering  an  Orcutt." 

Imogene  turned  pale.  "  Do  not  speak  of  him,"  she 
cried.     "  I  want  to  forget  that  such  a  man  ever  lived." 

Mr.  Gryce  smiled  again. 

"It  is  the  best  thing  you  can  do,"  said  he.  "Begin  a 
new  life,  my  child  ;  begin  a  new  life." 

And  with  this  fatherly  advice,  he  said  good-bye,  and  she 
saw  his  wise,  kind  face  no  more. 

The  hour  that  followed  was  a  dreary  one  for  Imogene. 
Her  joy  at  knowing  Craik  Mansell  was  released  could  not 
blind  her  to  the  realization  of  her  own  ruined  life. 
Indeed  she  seemed  to  feel  it  now  as  never  before  ;  and  as 
the  slow  minutes  passed,  and  she  saw  in  fancy  the  strong 
figure  of  Mansell  surrounded  by  congratulating  admirers 
and  friends,  the  full  loneliness  of  her  position  swept  over 
her,  and  she  knew  not  whether  to  be  thankful  or  not  to 
the  fever  for  having  spared  her  blighted  and  dishonored 
life. 

Mrs.  Richmond,  seeing  her  so  absorbed,  made  no 
attempt  at  consolation.  She  only  listened,  and  when  a 
step  was  heard,  arose  and  went  out,  leaving  the  door 
open  behind  her. 


6o8  HAND   AND    RING. 

And  Imogene  mused  on,  sinking  deeper  and  deeper 
into  melancholy,  till  the  tears,  which  for  so  long  a  time  had 
been  dried  at  their  source,  welled  up  to  her  eyes  and  fell 
slowly  down  her  cheeks.  Their  touch  seemed  to  rouse 
her.  Starting  erect,  she  looked  quickly  around  as  if  to 
see  if  anybody  was  observing  her.  But  the  room  seems 
quite  empty,  and  she  is  about  to  sink  back  again  with  a 
sigh  when  her  eyes  fall  on  the  door-way  and  she  becomes 
transfixed.  A  sturdy  form  is  standing  there  !  A  manly, 
eager  form  in  whose  beaming  eyes  and  tender  smile  shine 
a  love  and  a  purpose  which  open  out  before  her  quite  a 
different  future  from  that  which  her  fancy  had  been  so 
ruthlessly  picturing. 


THE    END. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P,  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

THE  LEAVENWORTH  CASE,  A  Lawyer's  Story. 
By    Anna    Katherine    Green.       i6mo,    paper,    60  cents; 

cloth,    $1     GO. 

"  In  one  respect  at  least,  '  The  Leavenworth  Case  *  is  the  peer  of  Gabo- 
riau's  best  efforts — the  wonderful  skill  with  which  the  author  draws  tlie 
reader,  now  tliis  way,  now  that,  in  tlie  searcli  for  the  perpetrator  of  tlie 
mysterious  crime  witli  which  the  story  begins,  and  deludes  him  uatil  he 
reaches  almost  the  last  page." — Nezv  Haven  Palladiiun. 

"  Wilkie  Collins,  in  his  best  period,  never  invented  a  more  ingeniously 
constructed  plot,  nor  held  the  reader  in  such  suspense  until  the  final  denoue- 
ment. The  most  blase  novel-reader  will  be  unable  to  put  aside  '  The  Leav- 
enworth Case'  until  he  has  read  the  last  sentence  and  mastered  the  mystery 
which  has  baffled  him  from  the  beginning." — N'.    Y.  Express. 

"  She  has  proved  herself  as  well  able  to  write  an  interesting  story  of 
mysterious  crime  as  any  man  living." — The  Academy,  {^London.') 

"  She  has  worked  up  a  cause  celebre  with  a  fertility  of  device  and  ingenu- 
ity of  treatment  hardly  second  to  Wilkie  Collins  or  Edgar  Allen  Poe." — 
Christian  Union. 

"  We  have  read  no  story  for  a  long  time  which  has  had  so  much  of  the 
Wilkie  Collins,  and  Edgar  Allen  Poe  flavor  of  reality  in  the  telling." — Con- 
grega  tion  alist. 

"  We  do  not  propose  to  give  the  plot  of  the  work,  however,  but  merely  to 
say  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  ingenious  of  the  kind  we  have  ever  read." — 
Buffalo  Exp7-ess. 

"  This  is  the  sort  of  book  to  be  eagerly  read  and  thoroughly  enjoyed." — 
St.  Paul  Pioneer. 

"  A  new  novel  by  a  new  writer,  which  enchains  our  attention  from  the 
very  first  sentence  of  the  first  page,  is  a  pleasant  surprise.  *  *  *  Told 
with  a  force  and  power  that  indicate  great  dramatic  talent  in  the  writer.'"' — 
St.  Louis  Post. 

"  Its  interest  is  tindoubted  and  it  is  thoroughly  well  sustained." — N.  Y. 
Evening  Post. 

"  The  story  is  developed  with  great  skill  and  shows  ingenuity  of  the  high- 
est order." — Troy  Times. 

"  A  story  of  mystery  and  crime  and  is  here  narrated  with  an  artistic  skill 
which  inevitably  holds  the  interest  of  the  reader,  even  to  the  point  of  the 
highest  tension,  to  the  close  of  the  last  chapter.  *  *  *  A  real  marvel  of 
fiction." — Davenport  Gazette. 


A  STRANGE  DISAPPEARANCE.    %  Anna  Katharine  Green. 
i6mo,  paper,  50  cents,  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  The  plot  is  marked  with  striking  originality,  and  the  story  is  narrated  with  a 
vigor  and  power  rarely  met  in  modern  novels.  It  is  deeply  interesting  from  beginning 
to  end,  and  holds  the  reader  entranced  from  the  moment  the  first  page  is  read  until 
the  last  sentence  is  reached.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  revelation  in  American  romance-writing, 
and  we  heartily  commend  it  to  the  public." — Baltimore  Gazette. 

"  Catches  the  fancy  and  chains  the  interest  of  the  reader  to  such  a  degree  that 
he  is  unwilling  to  lay  it  down  until  every  page  is  devoured." — Toledo  Journal. 

"  The  author  has  chosen  a  department  of  fiction  where  only  the  best  writers 
succeed,  but  she  has  shown  herself  capable  of  sustaining  her  role  with  wonderful 
vigor." — Boston  Evening  Traveller. 

"  It  is  an  ingenious  plot,  admirably  worked  up,  and  told  so  straightforward 
as  to  be  wholly  pleasing."— C/j^Va^^  Inter-Ocean. 

"  One  of  the  best  police  detective  stories  written  in  America." — Hart/ord 
Courant. 

"  Wilkie  Collins  would  not  be  ashamed  of  the  construction  of  this  story.  *  * 
*    It  keeps  the  reader's  close  attention  from  first  to  last." — N.   V.  Evening  Post. 

"  A  most  ingenious  and  absorbingly  interesting  story.  The  readers  are  held 
spell-bound  till  the  last  page." — Cincinnati  Commercial. 

"  Ingenious  in  construction,  powerful  in  dramatic  interest,  and  artistic  in  devel- 
opment."— Boston  Gazette. 

"  A  most  intensely  interesting  work  of  fiction.  The  story  is  developed  with 
skill,  and  the  work  written  in  a  strong,  powerful  style. — Augusta  {Me.)  Partner. 

"The  plot  is  new  and  sparkling,  and  the  story  is  carried  to  its  denouement 
with  an  ingenuity  and  brightness  of  manner  that  makes  it  impossible  to  lay  the  volume 
down  until  completed.  *  *  *  It  is  a  marvel  of  fiction." — Columbus  Sunday 
Capital. 

"  The  plot  is  very  ingenious.  *  «  *  The  interest  in  the  tale  is  remarkably 
well  sustained  until  its  conclusion,  and  the  mystery  which  envelopes  the  principal 
character  is  concealed  with  a  great  deal  of  artis'.ic  skill.  *  *  *  Shows  a  spirit  of 
patient  research  that  speaks  well  for  the  industry  of  the  writer,  and  an  analytical 
faculty  rarely  seen  in  a  woman. — Boston  Courier. 

X.  Y.  Z.     A  Detective  Story.     By   Anna   Katharine  Green.     i6mo, 

paper,  25  cents. 

"  Well  written  and  extremely  exciting  and  captivating.  *  *  *  she  is  a 
perfect  genius  in  the  construction  of  a  plot." — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"  Will  keep  the  sleepiest  reader  wide-awake  from  title  to  finis." — Boston 
Transcript. 

"  An  extremely  interesting  story,  *  *  ♦  the  development  of  the  plot  is 
kept  well  in  hand,  and  the  denouement  is  as  dramatic  as  any  that  could  be  desired." — 
A  Ibany  A  rgus. 

THE    DEFENCE    OF   THE    BRIDE,    and    Other   Poems.      By 

Anna  K.vtharine  Green.     Sq.  i6mo,  (le.\.  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  Written  with  a  spirit  and  force  that  are  impressive." — Congregationalist. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

BAYARD   TAYLOR'S   NOVELS. 

L  Hannah    Thurston.      A    Story    of    American    Life 
i2mo.     Household  edition,  ....     S^-S'^ 

"If  Bayard  Taylor  has  not  placed  himself,  as  we  are  half  inclined  to  sus 
pect,  in  the  front  rank  of  novelists,  he  has  produced  a  very  remarkable  book 
—a  really  original  story,  admirably  told,  crowded  with  life-like  characters 
full  of  delicate  and  subtle  sympathies,  with  ideas  the  most  opposite  to  his 
own,  and  lighted  up  throughout  with  that  playful  humor  which  suggests  al 
ways  wisdom  rather  than  mere  fun." — London  Spectaiot. 

II.  John    Godfrey's    Fortunes.      Related  by   Himself 

i2mo.     Household  edition, $1-5' 

"  '  John  Godfrey's  Fortunes,'  without  being  melodramatic  or  morbid,  J 
one  of  the  most  fascinating  novels  which  we  have  ever  read.     Its  portraitu.r  . 
of  American  social  life,  though  not  flattering,  is  eminently  truthful ;  its  dc 
lineation  of  character  is  delicate  and  natural  ;  its  English,  though  sometime 
careless,  is  singularly  grateful  and  pleasant." — Cleveland  Leader. 

III.  The    Story    of    Kennett.      i2mo.      Household   edi 

tion,         .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  •     $1-5"' 

"Mr.  Bayard  Taylor's  book  is  delightftd  and  reft  eshiftg  reading,  and  ' 
great  rest  after  the  crowded  artistic  effects  and  the  conventional  interests  o_ 
even  the  better  kind  of  English  novels." — London  Spectator. 

"  As  a  picture  of  rural  life,  we  think  this  novel  of  Mr.  Taylor's  excels  airy 
of  his  previous  productions." — N.   Y.  Evening  Post. 
"  A  tale  of  absorbing  interest." — Syracuse  Standard. 

IV.  Joseph  and  his  Friend.     A  Story  of  PENNSYLVANii 
i2mo.     Household  edition, $i-5- 

"  In  Bayard  Taylor's  happiest  vein." — Buffalo  Express. 
"  By  far  the  best  novel  of  the  season." — Cleveland  Leader. 

V.  Beauty  and  the  Beast  and  Tales  of  Home.     i2mo 

Household  edition,   .         .         .         .     |i  50 


Bayard  Taylor's  Complete  Works. 

The  Complete  Works  of  Bayard  Taylor.  In  sixteen 
volumes.     Household  edition,         ....  $24.00 

The  Travels,  separate,  eleven  volumes.  Household  edi- 
tion,       S16.50 

The  Novels,  separate,  five  volumes,  boards.  Cedarcroft 
edition, $(3.2# 


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